"handrail" is a correct and commonly used word in written English.
It refers to a rail or bar that is used for support and balance while walking or climbing stairs. It is usually installed along the side of a staircase or ramp. Example: Please hold onto the handrail while walking down the stairs as a safety precaution.
But the real damage is likely to be done on the narrow twisting descents and sharp ascents around Oughtibridge and High Bradfield, the killer punch coming when what remains of the field hits Jenkin Road, a short climb within Sheffield which is so steep it has a handrail for pedestrians to cling to.
You can stand over a huge vat of gently churning purple-brown sulphuric acid but you had better be careful where you put your feet: the iron walkway is rusted away in places and the handrail has disappeared.
At Paris's Hotel du Petit Moulin, designed by Christian Lacroix, not all guests will be enamoured of the eye-grazing lime-green walls, retro chairs and lack of proper cupboards and drawers (try folding your cashmere jumper on to a minimalist handrail).
This is the reason for the large number of bells (ghantamala) suspended on lattices on the handrail of the balustrade (vedika) around the stupas of ancient India.
The horizontal surface of a step is called its tread and the vertical front its riser; steps are placed between strings that are inclined to the angle of the staircase; strings are supported by newel posts that also support the handrail, forming a balustrade.
An inclined belt, invented by Jesse W. Reno of the United States in 1891, provided transportation for passengers riding on cleats attached to the belt, which was inclined at an angle of 25°; the handrail was stationary, but an improved version with a moving handrail was introduced the same year.
Eventually a woman emerges from the crowd to give the rodent a helping hand, knocking the rat from its handrail perch and allowing it to scuttle off from whence it came.
People are being asked not to walk up or down the escalators at all, instead to simply stand on the step, hold the handrail, and leave a gap of one step between the next person.
In the elevator, JJ put her head on the handrail.
The 'experiment' begins with a young blonde woman being groped by a fellow actor, as he puts his hand on hers as she grips a handrail before continuing to make unwarranted advances.
But the late-Victorian surge of stories told just for children's pleasure – Little Women, Black Beauty, Treasure Island, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Kidnapped, King Solomon's Mines – were illustrated as a matter of course, to give young readers a handrail of comprehension through the text and help them imagine what Blind Pew or the March sisters looked like.
