Dictionary

doorstop en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From door + stop.

Meanings

1. Any device or object used to halt the motion of a door, as a large or heavy object, a wedge, or some piece of hardware fixed to the floor, door or wall.
2. (humorous) A large book, which by implication could be used to stop a door.
   • Meanwhile, all the Democrats had to put forward that year was a doorstop called Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill. 2010, Jack Hitt, “Is Sarah Palin Porn?”, in Laura Flanders, editor, At The Tea Party: The Wing Nuts, Whack Jobs and Whitey-Whiteness of the New Republican Right... and Why We Should Take It Seriously, page 206:
   • Walter Isaacson’s insight-free doorstop makes at least one thing clear: the richest man in the world has a lot of growing up to do[.] 2023 September 13, Gary Shteyngart, “Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson review – arrested development”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:
3. (UK, nonstandard, proscribed) Eggcorn of doorstep.
4. (Australia) An interview with a politician or other public figure (apparently informal or spontaneous but often planned), as they enter or leave a building.
   • It was estimated, for example, that Treasurer Wayne Swan had given more than 250 interviews and doorstops by the end of his first year in office. 2010, Anne Tiernan, Patrick Weller, Learning to Be a Minister: Heroic Expectations, Practical Realities, page 218:
   • The six o′clock news was regarded as the pivotal point in the day. As the news was beginning, often the Premier would make himself available for a doorstop press conference. 2006, Troy Bramston, The Wran Era, page 244:
   • And television dominates this place — just look at Beazley tossing around cans of tomato soup at his morning doorstops outside Parliament House. 2005, Mark Latham, The Latham Diaries, page 106:

Forms

Translations (33)

es mamotreto (large book — see also tome) · pl odbój (wedge used to keep a door open) · fr brique (large book — see also tome) · nl pil (large book — see also tome) · ru дверно́й сто́пор (wedge used to keep a door open) · de Türstopper (wedge used to keep a door open) · cmn 門擋 /门挡 (wedge used to keep a door open) · es tocho (large book — see also tome) · nb mursten (large book — see also tome) · nl deurstop (wedge used to keep a door open) · nl deurstopper (wedge used to keep a door open) · mi matapipi (wedge used to keep a door open) · cmn 巨著 (large book — see also tome) · cmn 臨時採訪 /临时采访 (interview with a public figure) · fi haastattelu ovensuulla (interview with a public figure) · fr pavé (large book — see also tome) · pl podkładka pod drzwi (wedge used to keep a door open) · nb dørstopper (wedge used to keep a door open) · es librote (large book — see also tome) · fi ovikiila (wedge used to keep a door open) · cmn 門碰頭 /门碰头 (wedge used to keep a door open) · it fermaporta (wedge used to keep a door open) · cmn 門夾 /门夹 (wedge used to keep a door open) · pdt Däastett (wedge used to keep a door open) · fi tiiliskivi (large book — see also tome) · fr cale-porte (wedge used to keep a door open) · ca topall (wedge used to keep a door open) · cmn 大部頭 /大部头 (large book — see also tome) · pl cegła (large book — see also tome) · es cuña (wedge used to keep a door open) · cmn 制門器 /制门器 (wedge used to keep a door open) · fi ovenpysäytin (wedge used to keep a door open) · nb murstein (large book — see also tome)