Definition

Noun: 1. A person employed to guard, monitor, or control access at an entrance: Someone stationed at a door to check credentials, provide information, or control who may enter a building or room. 2. A minor clerical office in some Christian traditions: Historically, the lowest of the minor orders in the Western Church, with duties related to the physical church building. This order is now generally suppressed. 3. An official responsible for maintaining order at an entrance to a specific chamber: An officer stationed at the door of a courtroom, legislative assembly, or similar formal chamber to control entry and announce proceedings.

Usage Examples

• Noun (General Guard):
  • The doorkeeper checked our invitations before allowing us into the gallery.
  • He worked as a doorkeeper at the luxury hotel for twenty years.
• Noun (Historical/Religious Office):
  • In earlier centuries, the order of doorkeeper was one of the steps toward priesthood.
• Noun (Chamber Officer):
  • The doorkeeper of the court announced the judge's arrival.
  • The legislative doorkeeper ensures only authorized personnel enter during a session.

Advanced Usage

• Symbolic Role: The term can be used metaphorically for anyone or anything that controls access to an opportunity, resource, or state.
  • Education is often seen as the doorkeeper to better career prospects.

Variants and Related Words

• Doorman (noun): A man employed to attend the entrance of a building, often a hotel or apartment block. (A specific, common type of doorkeeper).
• Gatekeeper (noun): A person who controls access to something. This is a broader term that can be used similarly to "doorkeeper" but often in more abstract or figurative contexts (e.g., a of information).
• Porter (noun): A person employed to carry luggage and often to attend doors, as in a hotel or college.
• Usher (noun): A person who shows people to their seats, especially in a theater or church, and who may also perform duties at an entrance.

Synonyms

• Guard (noun): A person who protects or watches over a place.
• Concierge (noun): A caretaker of an apartment complex or a hotel employee who assists guests (often includes door duties).
• Sentinel (noun): A soldier or guard whose job is to stand and keep watch.
• Commissionaire (noun): (Chiefly British) A uniformed attendant at the entrance of a hotel, theater, or office building.

Related Phrases

• To keep the door: An older or more formal phrase meaning to act as a doorkeeper or guard.
• To man the door: To be stationed at the door to monitor entry.

Noun

1. someone who guards an entrance
2. the lowest of the minor Holy Orders in the unreformed Western Church but now suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church
3. an official stationed at the entrance of a courtroom or legislative chamber