name, noun, verb ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The handrail on the side of a staircase.

   "wooden banister"

2. 2
   a railing at the side of a staircase or balcony to prevent people from falling wordnet
3. 3
   One of the vertical supports of a handrail; a baluster.

Verb

1. 1
   To construct a banister. transitive
2. 2
   To act as a banister. transitive

Proper Noun

1. 1
   A surname originating as an occupation for a maker of baskets. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   An unincorporated community and district in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

balusterbalustersbalustradebalustradebannisterbannister

Example

More examples

"Tom kept his hand on the banister as he walked down the stairs."

Etymology

Etymology 1

Alteration of earlier barrester, ballester, corruptions of baluster.

Etymology 2

English and Norman surname, variant of Bannister.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.