threshold

English Online Dictionary. What means threshold‎? What does threshold mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English threschwolde, threscholde, from Old English þresċold, þerxold, þrexwold (“doorsill, entryway”), from Proto-Germanic *þreskudlaz, *þreskūþlijaz, *þreskwaþluz, from Proto-Germanic *þreskaną, *þreskwaną (“to thresh”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, turn”).

Cognate with Low German Drüssel (“threshold”), dialectal German Drischaufel, Drissufle, Trüschübel (“threshold”), Danish tærskel (“threshold”), Norwegian terskel (“threshold”), Swedish tröskel (“threshold”), dialectal Swedish träskvald (“threshold”), Icelandic þröskuldur (“threshold”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)əʊld/, (goat split) [ˈθɹɛʃ(h)ɒʊɫd]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈθɹɛʃ(h)oʊld/
• Rhymes: -əʊld

Noun

threshold (plural thresholds)

1. The lowermost part of a doorway that one crosses to enter; a sill.
2. (by extension) An entrance; the door or gate of a house.
3. (by extension) Any end or boundary.
4. (figurative) The outset of something; the point of entry, or the beginning of an action.
   • 1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xi:

     I arrived at last, did obeisance to my uncle, and told him everything. He thought it over and said: ' […] At the threshold of death, how dare I give you permission to go to England, to cross the seas? But I will not stand in your way. It is your mother's permission which really matters. If she permit you, then godspeed! Tell her I will not interfere. You will go with my blessings.'
5. (aviation) The start of the landing area of a runway.
6. (engineering) The quantitative point at which an action is triggered, especially a lower limit.
7. The wage or salary at which income tax becomes due.
8. The point where one is mentally or physically vulnerable in response to a provocation or to other nuisances.

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “bottom-most part of a doorway”): lintel

Derived terms

Translations