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doorkeeper

American  
[dawr-kee-per, dohr-] / ˈdɔrˌki pər, ˈdoʊr- /

noun

  1. a person who guards the entrance of a building.

  2. British. a janitor; hall porter.

  3. Roman Catholic Church. ostiary.

doorkeeper British  
/ ˈdɔːˌkiːpə /

noun

  1. a person attending or guarding a door or gateway

  2. RC Church (formerly) the lowest grade of holy orders

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of doorkeeper

First recorded in 1525–35; door + keeper

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

When Lord Young started to respond Lady Bloomfield replied: "I had to send a note to you in order to wake you up by the doorkeeper."

From BBC • Mar. 15, 2022

I dropped in on a rainy day, feeling suitably furtive, and, having survived the close scrutiny of the doorkeeper, felt duty bound to partake of Dorothy Parker, a gin from Williamsburg.

From The New Yorker • Dec. 2, 2019

The zealous doorkeeper opens the big front door sparingly to keep out humidity, and only long enough to let visitors sneak quickly out.

From Seattle Times • Jul. 31, 2019

Shanks’s goal, we can infer, was to be doorkeeper to the temple of infamy.

From Washington Post • Jan. 17, 2017

The doorkeeper, inside, watched him with mild eyes.

From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.