(~s)
Frequency: The word is one of the 700 most common words in English.
1.
A ~ is a piece of wood, glass, or metal, which is moved to open and close the entrance to a building, room, cupboard, or vehicle.
I knocked at the front ~, but there was no answer...
The policeman opened the ~ and looked in...
N-COUNT
2.
A ~ is the space in a wall when a ~ is open.
She looked through the ~ of the kitchen. Her daughter was at the stove.
= ~way
N-COUNT
3.
Doors is used in expressions such as a few ~s down or three ~s up to refer to a place that is a particular number of buildings away from where you are. (INFORMAL)
Mrs Cade’s house was only a few ~s down from her daughter’s apartment.
N-PLURAL: amount N down/up
4.
see also next ~
5.
When you answer the ~, you go and open the ~ because a visitor has knocked on it or rung the bell.
Carol answered the ~ as soon as I knocked.
PHRASE: V inflects
6.
If you say that someone gets or does something by the back ~ or through the back ~, you are criticizing them for doing it secretly and unofficially.
The government would not allow anyone to sneak in by the back ~ and seize power by force...
PHRASE: PHR after v disapproval
7.
If someone closes the ~ on something, they stop thinking about it or dealing with it.
We never close the ~ on a successful series.
PHRASE: V inflects: PHR n
8.
If people have talks and discussions behind closed ~s, they have them in private because they want them to be kept secret.
...decisions taken in secret behind closed ~s.
PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR n
9.
If someone goes from ~ to ~ or goes ~ to ~, they go along a street calling at each house in turn, for example selling something.
They are going from ~ to ~ collecting money from civilians.
PHRASE: PHR after v, PHR n
10.
If you talk about a distance or journey from ~ to ~ or ~ to ~, you are talking about the distance from the place where the journey starts to the place where it finishes.
...tickets covering the whole journey from ~ to ~...
PHRASE
11.
If you say that something helps someone to get their foot in the ~ or their toe in the ~, you mean that it gives them an opportunity to start doing something new, usually in an area that is difficult to succeed in.
The bondholding may help the firm get its foot in the ~ to win the business...
PHRASE: N inflects, PHR after v
12.
If someone shuts the ~ in your face or slams the ~ in your face, they refuse to talk to you or give you any information.
Did you say anything to him or just shut the ~ in his face?
PHRASE: V inflects
13.
If you lay something at someone’s ~, you blame them for an unpleasant event or situation.
The blame is generally laid at the ~ of the government.
PHRASE: V inflects
14.
If someone or something opens the ~ to a good new idea or situation, they introduce it or make it possible.
This book opens the ~ to some of the most exciting findings in solid-state physics...
PHRASE: V and N inflect, oft PHR to n
15.
When you are out of ~s, you are not inside a building, but in the open air.
The weather was fine enough for working out of ~s.
= out~s
PHRASE: PHR after v, v-link PHR
16.
If you see someone to the ~, you go to the ~ with a visitor when they leave.
PHRASE: V inflects
17.
If someone shows you the ~, they ask you to leave because they are angry with you.
Would they forgive and forget–or show him the ~?
PHRASE: V inflects
18.
at death’s ~: see death