doorkeeper

1 an official doorkeeper as in a courtroom or legislative chamber [syn: usher]

2 the lowest of the minor Holy Orders in the unreformed Western Church but now suppressed by the Roman Catholic Church [syn: ostiary, ostiarius]

3 someone who guards an entrance [syn: doorman, door guard, hall porter, porter, gatekeeper, ostiary]

English

Etymology

door + keeper

Noun

1. The person in charge of an entryway, sometimes just a doorman, sometimes something more.
   • 1920, Willa Cather, ''Youth and the Bright Medusa.''

     The manager at Carnegie Hall was told to get another usher in his stead; the doorkeeper at the theatre was warned not to admit him to the house; and Charley Edwards remorsefully promised the boy's father not to see him again.

A doorkeeper, also known as doorman (plural doormen), is someone who is posted at, and often guards, a door, or by extension another entrance (specific similar terms exist, e.g. Gatekeeper, Hall porter)

Specific uses include:

• Residential doormen
• Movie doorman
• Usher, often ceremonial
• Bouncer (doorman), mainly security
• Doorman, a Marvel Comics fictional superhero.
• Ostiary, ecclesiastical minor order
• Doorkeeper of the United States House of Representatives

See also

• Chancellor, originally posted at a door post
• The Bouncer, a Playstation 2 beat 'em up game

acolyte, acolytus, cerberus, concierge, deacon, diaconus, doorman, exorcist, exorcista, gatekeeper, holy orders, janitor, lector, major orders, minor orders, ostiarius, ostiary, porter, presbyter, priest, reader, receptionist, subdeacon, subdiaconus, usher, warden