door

plural doors · alternative obsolete doore · alternative obsolete durre

1. architectureA 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.

   I caught my finger in the door.

   5 more examples

   bathroom door, bedroom door, doorkey, exterior door, interior door

   I knocked on the vice president's door.

   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

   Synonyms: gate, portal

2. in pluralmetonymicallyA building with a door, especially a house.

   His house is three doors down.

   5 more examples

   He went five doors up the road to the bank.

   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

   Synonyms: home, house, place

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

   cupboard door

   1 more example

   the 24 doors in an Advent calendar

4. immigrationAn entry point.
5. figurativelyA means of approach or access.

   Learning is the door to wisdom.

6. figurativelyA possibility.

   to leave the door open

   1 more example

   all doors are open to somebody

7. figurativelyA barrier.

   Keep a door on your anger.

8. datedcomputingA software mechanism by which a user can interact with a program running remotely on a bulletin board system. See BBS door.
9. 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.

present singular third person doors · participle present dooring · participle past doored · past doored · alternative obsolete doore · alternative obsolete durre

1. transitivecyclingTo 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

   2 more examples

   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

   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