doorstep

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a step directly outside the entrance to a building

   A parcel had been left on the doorstep.

2. 2
   noun

   the area very close to where someone lives or to a particular place

   Residents opposed the noisy development on their doorstep.

3. 3
   noun

   a very thick slice of bread; informal British

   He made a sandwich with two doorstep slices of bread.

A compound of door + step. The figurative expression on one's doorstep treats something nearby as if it had arrived at the entrance; the British bread sense compares a thick slice to a solid step.

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