door
pronunciation
How to pronounce door in British English:
UK [dɔː(r)]
How to pronounce door in American English:
US [dɔːr]
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- Noun:
- a swinging or sliding barrier that will close the entrance to a room or building or vehicle
- the entrance (the space in a wall) through which you enter or leave a room or building; the space that a door can close
- anything providing a means of access (or escape)
- a structure where people live or work (usually ordered along a street or road)
- a room that is entered via a door
Word Origin
- door
- door: [OE] Old English had two closely related words for ‘door’: duru (mirrored by German tür ‘door’) and dor (which corresponds to German tor ‘gate’). They gradually came together during the Middle English period. Both go back ultimately to the Indo-European base *dhwer-, which also produced Greek thúrū ‘door’ (source of English thyroid), Latin foris ‘door’ (source of English foreign and forest) and forum, Sanskrit dvar- ‘door’, Russian dver’ ‘door’, Lithuanian dùrys ‘gate’, etc.=> foreign, forest, thyroid
- door (n.)
- Middle English merger of Old English dor (neuter; plural doru) "large door, gate," and Old English duru (fem., plural dura) "door, gate, wicket;" both from Proto-Germanic *dur- (cognates: Old Saxon duru, Old Norse dyrr, Danish dør, Old Frisian dure, Old High German turi, German Tür). The Germanic words are from PIE *dhwer- "a doorway, a door, a gate" (cognates: Greek thyra, Latin foris, Gaulish doro "mouth," Gothic dauro "gate," Sanskrit dvárah "door, gate," Old Persian duvara- "door," Old Prussian dwaris "gate," Russian dver' "a door"). The base form is frequently in dual or plural, leading to speculation that houses of the original Indo-Europeans had doors with two swinging halves. Middle English had both dure and dor; form dore predominated by 16c., but was supplanted by door.A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of. [Ogden Nash]
Example
- 1. Imagine a milk bottle holding a door open .
- 2. You really need to start using that door .
- 3. A guard opens the door and maricruz enters .
- 4. A second later the door opened .
- 5. We sidled tentatively towards the bathroom door .