doorstop

American  

[dawr-stop] / ˈdɔrˌstɒp /

noun

doorstops plural

1. a device for holding a door open, as a wedge or small weight.

2. Also called stop.  Also called slamming stile.  (in a doorframe) a strip or projecting surface against which the door closes.

3. a device for preventing a door from striking a wall or an object on a wall, as a small rubber-covered projection.

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doorstop British  

/ ˈdɔːˌstɒp /

noun

1. a heavy object, wedge, or other device which prevents an open door from moving

2. a projecting piece of rubber, etc, fixed to the floor to stop a door from striking a wall

3. informal a very thick book

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• doorstops
  plural

Etymology

Origin of doorstop

An Americanism dating back to 1870–75; door + stop

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

doorstop doorstops

That 2,700-page doorstop, the fruit of 750 “editor-years,” was greeted with brickbats on its appearance in 1961.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025

Ignoring this opportunity is like discovering the Rosetta Stone and using it as a doorstop.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 9, 2025

And he didn’t foreclose a future bid for governor, keeping the possibility propped open with this rhetorical doorstop: “Never say never.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2025

I am fine with it being joked about, scorned, ignored, used as a doorstop or forgotten completely.

From Salon ● Dec. 21, 2023

At least as a doorstop it gets used.

From "Five Feet Apart" by Rachael Lippincott

The move comes as the delivery sector suffers from increasing competition as people shop more online and get shopping delivered to their doorstops.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2025

In his travels, Tocqueville saw pieces of the famous Plymouth Rock all over: used as doorstops, as paperweights, set in the centers of mantels like the mandibles of sainted martyrs.

From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2024

Unreadable doorstops her books may be, but they would seem to reveal something about the psychology of a significant slice of Americans.

From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2024

“Very expensive books are a big nothingburger,” book scout and estate buyer Larry Bardecki says, especially coffee-table doorstops.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 19, 2022

I push him through a set of double doors, propped open with doorstops.

From "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth