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• door-to-door
  door-to-door

  adjective

  calling, selling, canvassing, etc., at each house or apartment in an area, town, or the like.
• door to door
  door to door

  adjective

  (of selling, canvassing, etc) from one house to the next

door-to-door

American  

[dawr-tuh-dawr, dohr-tuh-dohr] / ˈdɔr təˈdɔr, ˈdoʊr təˈdoʊr /

adjective

1. calling, selling, canvassing, etc., at each house or apartment in an area, town, or the like.

   a door-to-door poll.

2. sent direct from the point of pickup to the point of delivery, as a shipment or order of merchandise.

3. covering the complete route of a door-to-door shipment, delivery, etc..

   door-to-door carrying charges; door-to-door insurance.

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adverb

1. in a door-to-door manner.

door to door British  

adjective

1. (of selling, canvassing, etc) from one house to the next

2. (of journeys, deliveries, etc) direct

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door to door Idioms  

1. Calling at each house, apartment, store, etc. in an area, in order to deliver, sell, or ask for something. For example, We were asked to go door to door to collect enough signatures . [c. 1900]

2. Sent from a place of origin or pickup to a place of delivery. For example, They quoted me a price for door to door, as well as a lower one if I would pick up the goods myself . This usage is nearly always applied to a shipment of merchandise.

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Etymology

Origin of door-to-door

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

door-to-door door to door

"There was confusion," confirms Brenn Scott, who was going door-to-door with her daughter to inform residents of the Black neighborhood of Whitehaven.

From Barron's ● Aug. 8, 2026

Amid growing complaints from neighbors, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health decided to lead a door-to-door outreach survey in the neighborhood surrounding the warehouse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

Many others at the field, where aid groups have been giving out blankets and food, report such door-to-door intimidation.

From BBC ● Jun. 16, 2026

Stanley replaced door-to-door peddling with a “party plan” model, later popularized by Tupperware, in which products were sold at social gatherings.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Even when dressed in a stiff suit, like a door-to-door salesman, he seemed to have sprung from a mythic age.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

They would go door to door across shops in Tynemouth, North Shields and Whitley Bay to raise support.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026

At the time, Oxford had been moonlighting for a sales company that offered welding machines, generators, and other equipment door to door.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

"You cannot continue to go door to door asking for proof of identification of foreign nationals," minister in the presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said at a media briefing Friday.

From Barron's ● Jul. 3, 2026

He sold pots and pans door to door.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026

Children shot by us, darted around us, little ones shrieking with excitement, adolescents slipping like shadows from door to door, hands over their mouths to keep laughter still.

From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin