Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A mat placed before a doorway for wiping the shoes.
- noun Slang One who submits meekly to domination or mistreatment by others.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A heavy mat made of hemp, flax, or jute, woven or tied, or of sedge, straw, rushes, etc., or sometimes of caoutchouc, placed before a door for use in cleaning the shoes by those entering.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun a mat placed outside and exterior door for wiping the shoes before entering.
- noun A person who is habitually abused, taken advantage of or humiliated; sometimes, one who is physically weak.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A coarse
mat at the entrance to a house, upon which one wipes one's shoes. - noun figuratively Someone who is overly
submissive to others' wishes.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a mat placed outside an exterior door for wiping the shoes before entering
- noun a person who is physically weak and ineffectual
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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My favourite out of all the catalogues that plop onto the doormat is the Lakeland one.
Kitchen Gadget Lust « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2007
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And my "Come Back with a Warrant" doormat is a hit with everyone who has seen it.
Moving the Bubbies 2006
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And my "Come Back with a Warrant" doormat is a hit with everyone who has seen it.
Archive 2006-07-01 2006
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Perhaps they weighed in their mind that putting the package underneath my doormat and decided somehow that this wouldn’t work, perhaps it would get wet in this way, even though the doormat is well covered, and the package would be further protected by being under said doormat.
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Perhaps they weighed in their mind that putting the package underneath my doormat and decided somehow that this wouldn’t work, perhaps it would get wet in this way, even though the doormat is well covered, and the package would be further protected by being under said doormat.
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The whole of the entrance hall is covered in doormat.
Socialite « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2009
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The doormat is a martyr, and the position she takes among her friends is obvious: She isn't one to make her demands known and rarely questions anything.
Therese Borchard: 10 Types Of Female Friends: How Many Do You Have? 2009
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Me, being the super nice guy, (aka doormat), went home for 3 hours just to return to work and close.
Read It! j-ku 2007
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"No one likes being called a doormat or being considered that at this level," center
NY Daily News PETER BOTTE 2011
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Invariably though, at 'that time of the month' (when the statement thuds onto my doormat, that is), I just want to see it suffer.
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