door-to-door

[dawr-tuh-dawr, dohr-tuh-dohr]

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.

adverb

1. in a door-to-door manner.

door to door

adjective

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

2. (of journeys, deliveries, etc) direct

Word History and Origins

Origin of door-to-door¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Idioms and Phrases

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]

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.

Example Sentences

In August, Chinese mine officials, accompanied by Zambian government officials, went door-to-door in the village of Sabina, near a tributary of the Kafue River, residents recalled in interviews.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

This Halloween, for the love of America—please turn on the porch light, go door-to-door, open your own.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But they stopped providing the service as the administration canceled the door-to-door program nationwide, according to a city official.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

OTTAWA—Workers at Canada’s state-owned postal service went on strike on Thursday night after the Liberal government ordered that money-losing Canada Post abandon door-to-door delivery, close post offices and make cuts to operating expenses.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Witnesses had called 999 after hearing cries for help but when police carried out door-to-door inquiries they were unable to trace where the pleas were coming from.

Read more on BBC