A door is a movable structure used to open and close an entrance, typically consisting of a panel that swings on hinges or that slides or spins inside a space.
When open, doors admit people, animals, ventilation, and light. The door is used to control the physical atmosphere within a space by enclosing the air drafts, so that interiors may be more effectively heated or cooled. Doors are significant in preventing the spread of fire. They act as a barrier to noise. Most doors are equipped with locking mechanisms to allow entrance to certain people and keep out others.
Doors are used to screen areas of a building for aesthetics, keeping formal and utility areas separate. Doors also have an aesthetic role in creating an impression of what lies beyond. Doors are often symbolically endowed with ritual purposes, and the guarding or receiving of the keys to a door, or being granted access to a door can have special significance. Similarly, doors and doorways frequently appear in metaphorical or allegorical situations, literature and the arts, often as a portent of change.
Read more about Door: Applications, Design and Styles, History, Door-related Accidents
Famous quotes containing the word door:
“Then he rang the bell and ordered a ham sandwich. When the maid placed the plate on the table, he deliberately looked away but as soon as the door had shut, he grabbed the sandwich with both hands, immediately soiled his fingers and chin with the hanging margin of fat and, grunting greedily, began to much.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“Every obstruction of the course of justice,—is a door opened to betray society, and bereave us of those blessings which it has in view.... It is a strange way of doing honour to God, to screen actions which are a disgrace to humanity.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of.”
—Ogden Nash (1902–1971)