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doorstopper

doorstopper

3.7
An object that you put on the floor to hold a door open
  • noun
  • /ˈdɔːrˌstɑːpər/
translation icon : tope de puerta

Examples

  • "However, I kept giving them Guy Gavriel Kay doorstoppers as Christmas presents and hearing, "Oh... uh, you know, that was pretty good!"

    Blog text (10)
  • I do the same thing chasing my 7-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son while reading doorstoppers.

    Blog text (27)
  • New, beautifully illustrated doorstoppers on boxing, glaciers, antique postcards, modern India, and New York City.

    Blog text (17)
  • We used a heavy doorstopper to keep the back door open during the summer barbecue.

  • She placed a large doorstopper at the front door to prevent it from slamming shut in the wind.

  • To hold the classroom door open, the teacher used a sturdy doorstopper made of rubber.

Synonyms

doorstop
vsdoorstopper
9 2.3

A small object placed on the floor to stop a door from closing

is placed on the floor to keep a door open or prevent banging shut
makeshift doorstop
vsdoorstopper
3.8

A temporary object that keeps a door open

is the regular, nontemporary object used to hold doors open or block movement

Surface Forms

doorstopper singular
doorstoppers plural

Morphology

doorstopper = door + stopper (transparent) = door + stopp + er

The meaning is directly compositional: it is a stopper for a door.

Etymology

Doorstopper is made from the simple words door and stopper, and the stop part means 'to stop' movement. So a doorstopper is an object you put on the floor to keep a door open or to stop it from closing or banging.