subs. phr. (thieves’).—The treadmill, WHEEL OF LIFE (q.v.): also EVERLASTING-STAIRCASE (q.v.).
1851–61. H. MAYHEW, London Labour and the London Poor, I. 415. Well, the beaks got up to the dodge, and all the Spanish lurksmen in their turns got to work the UNIVERSAL STAIRCASE.
