doorstep

English

Etymology

From door +‎ step.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛp

Noun

doorstep (plural doorsteps)

1. An outside step leading up to the door of a building, usually a home.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 10, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.

   On one's doorstep.

2. (figuratively) One's immediate neighbourhood or locality.

   They want to build the prison right on our doorstep; it will only be half a mile away and being that close scares me.

3. (UK, informal) A big slice, especially of bread.
   • 2003, Diana Wynne Jones, The Merlin Conspiracy, P 241 →ISBN

     I cut myself a doorstep of bread with masses of butter and went along to see Romanov while I was eating it.

Translations

threshold of a doorway

• Arabic: عَتَبَةُ الْبَابِ f (ʕatabatu l-bābi)
• Bashkir: тупһа (tupha), буҫаға (buśağa)
• Belarusian: паро́г m (paróh)
• Bulgarian: праг (bg) m (prag)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 門階／门阶 (zh) (ménjiē), 门阶 (zh) (ménjiē), 門檻／门槛 (zh) (ménkǎn), 门槛 (zh) (ménkǎn)

• Czech: práh (cs) m
• Danish: dørtærskel c
• Finnish: kynnys (fi)
• French: seuil (fr) m
• Galician: limiar (gl) m, soarego (gl) m, soleira (gl) f
• German: Eingangsstufe f, Türschwelle (de) f
• Greek: κατώφλι (el) n (katófli)
• Irish: leac dorais f, tairseach f
• Japanese: 戸口の踏み段 (とぐちのふみだん, toguchi no fumidan)
• Latin: līmen n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Macedonian: праг m (prag)
• Polish: próg (pl) m
• Portuguese: soleira (pt) f
• Russian: поро́г (ru) m (poróg)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: праг m

  Roman: prag (sh) m

• Slovak: prah m
• Slovene: prag (sl) m
• Spanish: umbral (es) m
• Swedish: tröskel (sv) c
• Thai: ธรณีประตู (tɔɔ-rá-nii-bprà-dtuu)
• Tibetan: སྒོའི་ཐེམ (sgo'i them)
• Ukrainian: порі́г m (poríh)
• Welsh: rhiniog m, trothwy m

big slice of bread

• Bulgarian: дебела филия f (debela filija)
• Polish: pajda (pl) f, skiba (pl) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: fationa f

Verb

doorstep (third-person singular simple present doorsteps, present participle doorstepping, simple past and past participle doorstepped)

1. (intransitive) To visit one household after another to solicit sales, charitable donations, political support, etc.
2. (transitive, journalism) To corner somebody for an unexpected interview.
   • 1998, Emily O'Reilly, Veronica Guerin: The Life and Death of a Crime Reporter:

     Throughout her time in journalism, she doorstepped politicians, the child of a politician, crime victims, armed robbers, murderers, suspected murderers...

   • 2006, Denis O'Hearn, Nothing But an Unfinished Song:

     Surprisingly few people refused to talk, even those I doorstepped or telephoned out of the blue.

See also

• ambush journalism

Anagrams

• droopest, optrodes, pet doors, torpedos

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Danish

Noun

doorstep

1. (journalism) A short and informal press briefing

   Statsministeren holder doorstep i Statsministeriet.

   The Prime Minister is holding an informal press briefing at the Prime Minister's Office.