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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

County Department of Public Health conducted a door-to-door outreach survey in the neighborhood surrounding the warehouse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

"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

Ian Faria, a lawyer in Texas who represents home builders, said that in new communities, plaintiff attorneys often go door-to-door, pointing out potential problems in homes and encouraging owners to consider litigation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 18, 2026

Before Reed Hastings revolutionized the global entertainment business, he sold Rainbow vacuum cleaners door-to-door during his gap year between high school and Bowdoin College, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in mathematics.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 16, 2026

I offer to go door-to-door for donations and pass the hat around the cafeteria.

From "Linked" by Gordon Korman

Long before the Supreme Court handed down the landmark Obergefell ruling on equal marriage in 2015, activists were canvassing door to door, courting any lawmaker who would listen, and losing at the local level—a lot.

From Slate ● Aug. 1, 2026

That narrowed Lucy's possible address down further - but they didn't want to go door to door, making enquiries.

From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026

The interior’s centerpiece is the dash console: two large and thickly padded horizontal bolsters stretching door to door, wrapped in glove-soft faux leather, with a middle tier of naturally grained wood.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 8, 2026

Prater said crews were going door to door to help people leave their homes while others responded to reports of “multiple people stuck in vehicles in the roadway.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2025

“Why not go from door to door making enquiries? I might have done it myself. You appear to have no more proof against de Winter there than you would have against me.”

From "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier