sliding door

plural sliding doors

1. A door that opens and closes by sliding to the side; sometimes one of a pair.

   Thus, the ScotRail plan was to totally refurbish the trailer vehicles, with new sliding doors and a host of other improvements.

   2019 October 23, Pip Dunn, “The next king of Scotland”, in Rail, page 50

   2 more examples

   Constructional features of the railbus include the use of rubber suspension for axlebox/underframe and underframe/body mountings, the use of B.U.T. power transmission equipment, many components of which are interchangeable with those on British Railways standard railcars, power-operated sliding doors, and an absence of normal sidebuffers or drawgear.

   1958 April 28, “Diesel Railbus for British Railways”, in Railway Magazine, page 275

   However, before Zoe could open the first cage, Burt’s van, looking decidedly the worse for wear, came thundering into the warehouse, smashing the huge metal sliding door into the air as it did so

   2012, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Ratburger, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN

2. attributivefigurativelyDenotes a crucial decision point at which outcomes diverge depending on which of two courses is followed.

   sliding door(s) moment

   2 more examples

   sliding door(s) decision

   The Wachowskis’ animé-inspired action epic is a notorious box office flop, but represents a sliding doors moment in cinematic history.

   2023 May 10, B.C. Wallin, “Speed Racer and the blockbuster sea change”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)