doorstop
noun
door·stop ˈdȯr-ˌstäp 
1
: a usually rubber-tipped device attached to a wall or floor to prevent damaging contact between an opened door and the wall
2
: a device (such as a wedge or weight) for holding a door open
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Nearer the coast, Ben Bulben dominates the landscape, jutting from the earth like a great doorstop. 
J.r. Patterson, Washington Post, 29 July 2022 Atkinson's spectacular doorstop might be described as a reincarnation story, but also might be called a deeply insightful examination of how a single character would experience the whole of the tumultuous 20th century. The Week Staff, The Week, 27 June 2022 The pair formalized their partnership, and the collection grew to encompass, in addition to the doorstop and drawer pulls, a bowl, a candlestick, a table lamp, a necklace, and, yes, a drum key—all available in weighty, hand-finished brass or steel. Anna Fixsen, ELLE Decor, 2 Feb. 2022 The Executioner’s Song—Mailer’s doorstop account of Gary Gilmore’s execution and a work increasingly relevant in our true crime boom—has sold just north of 40,000 since 1998. Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 4 Jan. 2022 This mountaintop acts like a doorstop, blocking the glacier’s forward progress. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 15 Dec. 2021 The approach of blanking out the AI driving system would seem the more assured approach to stop the evildoer takeover, though this also means that the vehicle becomes a doorstop. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2021 The 1965 science-fiction classic, and winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards, is a doorstop of a book (my copy clocks in at nearly 700 pages), thick with unfamiliar terminology, elaborate world-building and high-minded concepts. Barbara Vandenburgh, USA TODAY, 20 Oct. 2021 Earlier today, a package from Activision arrived on my doorstop, suspiciously light and bearing a bright red FRAGILE sticker. Mitch Wallace, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021 See More
J.r. Patterson, Washington Post, 29 July 2022 Atkinson's spectacular doorstop might be described as a reincarnation story, but also might be called a deeply insightful examination of how a single character would experience the whole of the tumultuous 20th century. The Week Staff, The Week, 27 June 2022 The pair formalized their partnership, and the collection grew to encompass, in addition to the doorstop and drawer pulls, a bowl, a candlestick, a table lamp, a necklace, and, yes, a drum key—all available in weighty, hand-finished brass or steel. Anna Fixsen, ELLE Decor, 2 Feb. 2022 The Executioner’s Song—Mailer’s doorstop account of Gary Gilmore’s execution and a work increasingly relevant in our true crime boom—has sold just north of 40,000 since 1998. Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 4 Jan. 2022 This mountaintop acts like a doorstop, blocking the glacier’s forward progress. Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 15 Dec. 2021 The approach of blanking out the AI driving system would seem the more assured approach to stop the evildoer takeover, though this also means that the vehicle becomes a doorstop. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 19 Oct. 2021 The 1965 science-fiction classic, and winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards, is a doorstop of a book (my copy clocks in at nearly 700 pages), thick with unfamiliar terminology, elaborate world-building and high-minded concepts. Barbara Vandenburgh, USA TODAY, 20 Oct. 2021 Earlier today, a package from Activision arrived on my doorstop, suspiciously light and bearing a bright red FRAGILE sticker. Mitch Wallace, Forbes, 8 Sep. 2021 See More Word History
First Known Use
1878, in the meaning defined at sense 1
- by mutual consent
- by necessity
- by night
- by no means
- by no stretch of the imagination
- by numbers
- by one's lonesome
- by one's own account
- by one's own admission
- by one's own bootstraps
- by one's own hand
- by oneself
- by ourselves
- by popular demand
- by prescription
- by reason of
- by request
- by return
- by return mail
- by return of post
- by right
- by rights
- by sea
- by sight
- by some distance