doorplate

American  

[dawr-pleyt, 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

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

The newly painted door was bright with love; the polished doorplate and bell handle glistened with love.

From Round the Block by Bouton, John Bell

"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 Wiggin, Kate Douglas Smith

Why, it is a kind of a doorplate, after all, don't you see?

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

Rajah was wide awake, lying just inside the coaming of the chart-room door, chewing contentedly at his betel, and holding the spy-glass over the brass doorplate directed toward the island.

From The Devil's Admiral by Moore, Frederick Ferdinand