door meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

door

noun

CA, US /doɹ/ · UK /dɔː/

Etymology

From Middle English dore, dor, from Old English duru (“door”), dor (“gate”), from Proto-West Germanic *dur, from Proto-Germanic *durz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰwṓr, from *dʰwer- (“doorway, door, gate”). Cognates Cognate with Scots door (“door”), Saterland Frisian Doore (“door”), West Frisian doar (“door”), Dutch deur (“door”), German Low German Door, Döör (“door”), German Tür (“door”), Tor (“gate”), Danish, Norn, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk dør (“door”), Swedish dörr (“door”), Faroese and Icelandic dyr (“door”), Asturian, Aragonese and Spanish fuera (“outside”), Catalan, Leonese, and Portuguese fora (“outside”), French hors (“outside”), Galician fóra (“outside”), Italian fuori (“outside”), Mirandese fuora (“outside”), Latin foris and foras (“outside”), Ancient Greek θύρα (thúra), Albanian derë (“door”), Central Kurdish دەرگە (derge, “door”), Northern Kurdish derî (“door”), Persian در (dar, “door”), Belarusian дзве́ры (dzvjéry, “door”), Bulgarian две́ри (dvéri, “royal doors”), Czech dveře (“door”), Latvian durvis (“door”), Lithuanian durys (“door”), Macedonian двер (dver, “door”), Polish drzwi (“door”), Russian дверь (dverʹ), Serbo-Croatian dvȇri (“door”), dvar (“door”), Ukrainian две́рі (dvéri, “door”), Hindi द्वार (dvār, “door”), Armenian դուռ (duṙ, “door”), Irish doras (“door”), Sanskrit द्वार (dvāra, “door”). Despite similarities in spelling, not cognate with Dutch door, which is instead cognate with English through.

9 senses

1A portal of entry into a building, room, or vehicle…
2A building with a door, especially a house.
3Any flap, etc., that opens like a door.
4An entry point.
5A means of approach or access.
6A possibility.
7A barrier.
8A software mechanism by which a user can interact with a…
9The proceeds from entrance fees and/or ticket sales at a…

Architecture A portal of entry into a building, room, or vehicle, typically consisting of a rigid plane movable on a hinge. It may have a handle to help open and close, a latch to hold it closed, and a lock that ensures it cannot be opened without a key.

bathroom door, bedroom door, doorkey, exterior door, interior door
I knocked on the vice president's door.

3 more examples

That's the door to the bathroom.
Then everybody once more knelt, and soon the blessing was pronounced. The choir and the clergy trooped out slowly, […], down the nave to the western door. […] At a seemingly immense distance the surpliced group stopped to say the last prayer.1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter V, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
‘No. I only opened the door a foot and put my head in. The street lamps shine into that room. I could see him. He was all right. Sleeping like a great grampus. Poor, poor chap.’1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 20, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

In plural, Metonymically A building with a door, especially a house.

His house is three doors down.
He went five doors up the road to the bank.

4 more examples

You brought this problem to my door.
We walked three doors up the street where we stopped in front 71 Richard D. Kutz.2012 June, Richard D. Kutz, Up the Park, First Books, →ISBN, page 71:
"...The storage room is about, oh, three doors down, on the left. I'll point it out as we go by. Pay attention so you know where you have to come back to. Only then it'll be — let me see — about five doors down on your right."2015 February 2, Laurel Deedrick-Mayne, A Wake For The Dreamland, FriesenPress, →ISBN, page 24:
A woman pushes a stroller in the direction of the synagogue, and another, just one door down from Pessie's apartment, is unloading groceries from her minivan.2024 March 26, Julia Dahl, Run You Down: A Novel, Macmillan + ORM, →ISBN:

Any flap, etc., that opens like a door.

cupboard door
the 24 doors in an Advent calendar

An entry point.

Figuratively A means of approach or access.

Learning is the door to wisdom.

Figuratively A possibility.

to leave the door open
all doors are open to somebody

Figuratively A barrier.

Keep a door on your anger.

Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences Dated A software mechanism by which a user can interact with a program running remotely on a bulletin board system. See BBS door.

The proceeds from entrance fees and/or ticket sales at a venue such as a bar or nightclub, especially in relation to portion paid to the entertainers.

The bar owner gives each band a percentage of the door and charges customers more to get in.

Derived terms: 290 terms
a creaking door hangs longest, a creaking door hangs long on its hinges, a golden key can open any door, air door, ashdump door, at church every time the doors are open, at church every time the doors swing open, at Death's door, at death's door, at someone's door, at the door, at the door of, attic door, automatic door, back door, back-door pilot, baize door, bang down the door, bang like a dunny door, bang like a dunny door in a gale, bang like a shithouse door, bang on the door, bang the door down, barndoor, barn door, barn doors, beat Jack out of doors, beat my neighbour out of doors, beat your neighbour out of doors, behind closed doors, blower door, blow the doors off, boy-next-door, boy next door, build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door, butterfly door, car door, carriage door, cat door, cellar-door, cellar door, central door locking, check at the door, church-door, church door, clack door, closed door, close one's doors, close the door, close the door on, close the stable door after the horse has bolted, coffin door, darken a church door, darken someone's door, dead door, death door, dock door, dog door, doggie door, don't let the door hit you on the way out, door alarm, doorbell, door-bell, door bitch, door brake, doorbuster, doorbusting, doorcase, door chain, doorcheek, door closer, Door County, door drawer, door entry system, doorflap, doorframe, door-frame, door frame, door game, doorgame, door god, door handle, doorhanger, door hinge, door-in-the-face technique, doorjamb, door-keeper, doorkeeper, door-knob, door knob, doorknob, doorknock, doorknocker, door knocker, doorlatch, doorleaf, doorless, doorlike, doorline, doormaid, doormaker, doormaking, doorman, doormat, door-mat, door money, door-nail, doornail, door nail, door opener, doorperson, door phone, doorphone, doorplate, door plug, door-post, doorpost, door prize, door-prize, door pump, door seal, doorside, doorsill, doorslab, doorslam, doorsman, door snail, doors of perception, doorstaff, doorstead, doorstep, doorstone, doorstop, doorstopper, door to door, door-to-door, doorwall, doorward, doorwards, doorway, doorweed, door wench, doorwise, doorwoman, dooryard, Dorothy door, double door, double doors, Dutch door, early door, early doors, elephant door, fairy door, false door, firedoor, fire door, five-door, five-piece door, foot-in-the-door technique, foredoor, four-door, four door house, French door, funeral door, garage door, garage door opener, gentleman of the back door, get one's foot in the door, get the door, girl next door, girl-next-door, glass-door, glass door, go in the out door, green door, half-door, have a foot in the door, have one's foot in the door, house door, house-door, ice delivery door, ice door, in church every time the doors are open, indoor, in-doors, Jack out of doors, jib door, ka-door, Katy bar the door, keep the wolf from the door, key of the door, key to the door, kick at an open door, kicking at an open door, kitty bar the door, kitty door, knicky-knocky-nine-doors, knock at the door, knock at the door of, knocking on heaven's door, knock on heaven's door, knock on the door of, Lamborghini door, lay at someone's door, lay something at the door of, leave at the door, leave the door open, let the door hit you where the good Lord split you, lie at one's door, lie at someone's door, make a better door than a window, milk delivery door, milk door, mother-in-law door, multidoor, next-door, next door, nicky-nicky-nine-doors, one foot out the door, one's door is open, on the door, open door, open-door, open-door policy, open door policy, open doors, open its doors, open the door, opportunity knocks at every man's door, outdoor, out-of-door, out of doors, out-of-doors, overdoor, panic door, patio door, pet door, platform door, platform edge door, platform screen door, plug door, pocket door, poor door, push against an open door, put one's foot in the door, revolving door, revolving door syndrome, revolving-door syndrome, sash door, scissor door, screen door, screen-door effect, Shaker door, show somebody the door, show someone the door, shut the door, shut the door on, shut the front door, side door, slam-door, slam door, slam the door, slam the door on, sporting door, stage door, stagedoor, stage-door Johnny, storm-door, storm door, suicide door, swing door, swinging door, swinging-door chad, text door neighbour, the wolf is at the door, three-door, trap door, trap-door, trapdoor, up and over door, video door entry, video door-phone, when God closes a door he opens a window, when one door closes, another opens, with closed doors, within-doors, without-door, withoutdoors, wolf at the door, your barn door is open

door

verb

Etymology

Cycling, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To cause a collision by opening the door of a vehicle in front of an oncoming cyclist or pedestrian.

Kerr has acted for numerous clients who have been doored, including one man knocked off his bike and on to spiked railings, and another who ended up hitting a tree.2018 February 6, Helen Pidd, “I got 'doored' while undertaking on my bike. Was it my fault?”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2023:
He [Pete Karageorgos] said cyclists who are doored are entitled to claim accident benefits from the driver's insurer if they aren't covered by a policy of their own.2019 December 15, Ben Spurr, “How an Ontario rule stops 'doored' cyclists from getting drivers' insurance info”, in Toronto Star, Toronto, Ont.: Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Apr 2024:

1 more example

To avoid being doored, cyclists such as Vilain, Davis-Overstreet and Michael Schneider monitor as many telltale signs as possible: shadows, brake lights, the actions of people sitting in the driver's seat.2023 December 19, Angie Orellana Hernandez, “Being doored to death is a cyclist's nightmare. How can it be prevented?”, in Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2024:

Derived terms: doorer, dooring