doorplate

American  

[dawr-playt, dohr-] / ˈdɔrˌpleɪt, ˈdoʊr- /

noun

1. a small identification plate on the outside door of a house or room, bearing the occupant's name, the apartment or house number, or the like.

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Etymology

Origin of doorplate

First recorded in 1815–25; door + plate ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

doorplate

“A handwritten sign on a wall, a name on a doorplate, a flyer on a telephone pole, or an unusual magazine at a newsstand would spin me toward a story.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2025

He rented a furnished house on an eminently respectable street, and the polished doorplate bore his name in uncompromising characters.

From Cy Whittaker's Place by Joseph Crosby Lincoln

Her own name was Jones, but the doorplate was very cheap, and her husband, she argued, might die, and then she might marry a man of the name of Wilkins.

From Some Private Views by James Payn

"But we ain't got any doorplate, to begin with."

From Timothy's Quest A Story for Anybody, Young or Old, Who Cares to Read It by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

Standing in a central and open place it was not difficult to discover, a well-burnished brass doorplate bearing their names prominently. 

From Life's Little Ironies by Thomas Hardy

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