doormatn.
1.
a. A mat placed before a door for cleaning the shoes before entering.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > cleaning shoes > [noun] > mats and scrapers
doormat1665
scraper1745
mud-scraper1788
bear1795
foot scraper1796
mata1818
shoe-scraper1842
scraper-mat1884
1665 R. Hooke Micrographia 6 A very convenient substance to make Bed-matts, or Door-matts of.
1808 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 19 541 Of this plant..door mats or basses are made.
1884 J. W. Ebsworth Roxburghe Ballads V. ii. p. xi Our jesting here upon the door-mat with the Reader.
b. figurative. Applied to a person upon whom people ‘wipe their boots’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > humility > servility > [noun] > servile person
clienta1393
snivelard1398
a dog for (also to) the bowc1405
fawnerc1440
snivellerc1450
slave1521
footstool1531
minion1560
footman1567
cringer1582
earthworm1583
yea-sayer1584
croucher1587
creeper1589
sneak-up1598
spaniel1598
sneak-cupa1616
servile1632
puppy dog1651
clientelary1655
lackey1692
groveling1708
prostite1721
prostitute1721
toad-eater1742
groveller1779
cringeling1798
creeping Jesusc1818
toady1826
truckler1827
crawler1847
flunkey1854
doormat1861
dog robber1863
heeler1875
slaveling1884
bootlicker1890
fetch-and-carry1905
poodle1907
yes-woman1927
ass-licker1939
ass-kisser1951
chamcha1966
fart-catcher1971
1861 C. Dickens Great Expectations xii, in All Year Round 19 Jan. 339/1 She asked me and Joe whether we supposed she was door-mats under our feet, and how we dared to use her so.
1899 Westm. Gaz. 15 Apr. 2/3 ‘Door-mat’ duty was never the portion of the one who was to be four times Prime Minister.
1915 Mrs. H. Ward Eltham House x. 172 It's no good playing doormat. You've got to make people afraid of you.
1930 Observer 20 Apr. 5/5 She is not such a nullity and ‘doormat’ as Miss Byron.
1959 ‘M. M. Kaye’ House of Shade xii. 163 A nice kind sugar-daddy of the adoring door-mat type.
1961 P. G. Wodehouse Service with Smile vi. 102 On these occasions he ceased to be a human doormat whom an ‘Oh, Clarence!’ could quell.
2. slang.
a. A beard or moustache.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > hair > hair on lower part of face > [noun] > beard > types of
bush-beard1606
bush1647
barbula1688
beardlet1847
doormat1909
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > styles of hair > [noun] > styles of moustache
rat-tail moustache1871
burnside1875
handlebar1888
Kaiser moustache1900
Kaiser Wilhelm moustache1901
toothbrush moustache1904
doormat1909
Kaiser Bill moustache1910
Old Bill moustache1915
cookie-duster1918
walrus moustache1918
Hitler1930
walrus whiskers1930
soup-strainer1932
pencil line1934
pencil moustache1961
Zapata1968
1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 115/2 Door-mat, the name given by the people to the heavy and unaccustomed beards which the Crimean heroes brought home from Russia in 1855–56... By 1882 the term came to be applied to the moustache only.
b. = doorstep n. b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > piece of bread > [noun] > slice of bread > thick slice
whang1683
doorstep1885
doormat1935
1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down i. i. 15 Here..have a doormat, do.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1897; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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n.1665