to bang down the door
- phrasal verb
- The police had to bang down the door to rescue the trapped child inside.
Examples
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During the emergency, the firefighters banged down the door to enter the burning building.
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Wait a moment, they are banging down the door with the butts of their guns!
Blog text (23) -
♪ As they were banging down the door ♪ ♪ But they'll never split ♪ this family on this day ♪ ♪ As the Lord is my witness ♪ ♪ We'll get that boy at Christmas ♪ ♪ No one's taking our Jesus away ♪ ♪ We knew the time had come ♪ ♪ To bring the Lord's only son ♪ ♪ Turned on the gas, lit a match ♪ ♪ And began to pray ♪ It tastes a lot better than it smells I can assure you.
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I heard someone bang down the door as I was getting ready for bed.
Synonyms
To hit or close something suddenly and loudly
To hit someone or something hard so it makes a loud sound
To hit something again and again very hard
To hit someone or something with an open hand
To break or remove something by force, often by hitting it
Force a door or gate open by hitting it hard with your foot
To break something into pieces by hitting it hard
Force open a door or gate by hitting it with your foot
To open something suddenly by force, for example a locked door or jar
To damage something very badly so it breaks into pieces
To hit something or someone very hard
To force open a door or window to get inside
To hit something or someone hard and make a loud sound
To force something down by hitting it hard
Pull a door quickly and hard to open it
To hit something quickly with a short, sharp blow
Antonyms
How Forceful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'bang' (to strike loudly) applied to 'door' with 'down' signalling force/directional completion, so a learner who knows the words can infer forcefully hitting/opening the door. This compositional pattern (verb + particle indicating force/direction) is common in English and cross-linguistically familiar, making the expression readily understandable at B1.
Etymology
Bang down the door shows a clear picture: someone hits a locked door hard with a loud bang to force it down until it opens. So, it means 'to forcefully open a door'.