The action of coming down and settling on a surface, especially after flight or a jump, or a level area at the top of a staircase or between flights of stairs. In aviation, it refers to the controlled descent of an aircraft to the ground.
From Middle English 'landing,' derived from 'land' plus the suffix '-ing.' The word originally meant 'coming to land' from water or air, and later expanded to include architectural features like stair landings.
The architectural meaning of 'landing' as a flat area in stairs comes from the nautical sense—these platforms were seen as places where you could 'land' and rest during your vertical journey. This shows how building design often borrows metaphors from transportation and travel.
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