The stairs were built into the thick walls of the castle, leading upward in a steep, narrow spiral, the stones worn from centuries of footsteps.

Major added "Lucas is in a very steep downward spiral and unless something pulls him up soon, it could all end in tears."

By the time he had told the tower, he was very near the cloud, gliding in a steep spiral.

Down, ever downward the steep spiral led.

If it failed, it could leave Indonesia's foreign currency reserves depleted and its economy in an even steeper downward spiral.

A steep spiral of steps had been roughly hacked out of the bedrock.

The name of the show is a play on "tailspin," the rapid descent of an aircraft in a steep spiral.

The wind sang in the turns of the steep ancient spiral.

But the steep upward spiral of political spending is continually redefining large - or even adequate - amounts of money for a race.

The two are credited with pulling American theater out of a steep downward spiral in the early 1970s and making it into a profitable enterprise.