/thresh"ohld, thresh"hohld/ , n.
1. the sill of a doorway.
2. the entrance to a house or building.
3. any place or point of entering or beginning: the threshold of a new career.
4. Also called limen . Psychol., Physiol. the point at which a stimulus is of sufficient intensity to begin to produce an effect: the threshold of consciousness; a low threshold of pain.
[ bef. 900; ME threschold, OE threscold, threscwald; c. ON threskoldr, dial. Sw träskvald; akin to THRESH in old sense "trample, tread"; -old, -wald unexplained ]