Walk-up Definition & Meaning

American

British

Etymology

Examples

Related Words

Synonyms walk-up American [wawk-uhp] / ˈwɔkˌʌp /

noun

1. an apartment above the ground floor in a building that has no elevator.

2. a building, especially an apartment house, that has no elevator.

adjective

1. located above the ground floor in a building that has no elevator.

2. having no elevator.

3. accessible to pedestrians from the outside of a building.

   a walk-up teller's window at a bank.

walk-up British

noun

1. informal

   1. a block of flats having no lift

   2. ( as modifier )

      a walk-up block

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of walk-up

1915–20, noun, adj. use of verb phrase walk up

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

His current Kendrick Lamar song is cool, but Smith is on this list in honor of a previous walk-up song that endeared him to Dodgers fans as that rare player who can laugh at himself.

From Los Angeles Times

The son of a 19-year-old unwed mother, Ellison grew up in a modest walk-up apartment on Chicago’s South Side, where he was raised by her aunt and uncle.

From Los Angeles Times

But all the characters racing up and down the stairs of his uber-New York walk-up hovel are a howl.

From Los Angeles Times

Now I am closer to central Lisbon in a comfortable one-bedroom second-floor walk-up in a neighborhood with a lot of stores and restaurants.

From The Wall Street Journal

One of Katz’s main tasks is getting more skiers to choose Vail’s slopes, and he says that in pushing people to buy passes ahead of the season, Vail neglected its walk-up ticket strategy.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• co-op
• condo
• condominium
• cooperative
• flat
• suite

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.