darken someone's door

present singular third person darkens someone's door · participle present darkening someone's door · participle past darkened someone's door · past darkened someone's door · alternative darken someone's doorstep · alternative darken someone's doorway

1. idiomaticTo arrive at someone's residence or location, especially as an unexpected visitor.

   [T]he squire ain't sociable an' the neighbors never darken his door.

   1917, Irving Bacheller, chapter 17, in The Light in the Clearing

   3 more examples

   "I'll tell you, Peter," said I, "were I my lord, and a friend or kinsman of mine should leave the town while the court was sitting, that kinsman, or be he what he liked, should never darken my door again."

   1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet, Letter 13

   He promised the poor His heaven, He loved and lived with the poor; He said that the rich man's shadow Should never darken His door.

   1885, Edith Nesbit, “The Stolen God—Lazarus to Dives”, in Many Voices

   Luckily, I'd scored some good-paying clients in the past two months along with the usual losers who darken my door and waste my time.

   2008, Valerie Wilson Wesley, Of Blood and Sorrow, →ISBN, page 3