Word.ws English Dictionary

darken someone's door

darken someone's door verb: to arrive at someone's residence or location, especially as an unexpected visitor.

Verb

darken someone's door (third-person singular simple present darkens someone's door, present participle darkening someone's door, simple past and past participle darkened someone's door)

  1. (idiomatic) To arrive at someone's residence or location, especially as an unexpected visitor.
    • "I'll tell you, Peter," said I, "were I my lord, and a friend or kinsman of mine should leave the town while the court was sitting, that kinsman, or be he what he liked, should never darken my door again."1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet, Letter 13
    • He promised the poor His heaven,
      He loved and lived with the poor;
      He said that the rich man's shadow
      Should never darken His door.1885, Edith Nesbit, “The Stolen God—Lazarus to Dives”, in Many Voices

Forms of darken someone's door

third-person singular presentdarkens someone's door
present participledarkening someone's door
past participledarkened someone's door
pastdarkened someone's door
alternative formdarken someone's doorstep
alternative formdarken someone's doorway

Origin of darken someone's door

Probably from the observation that one's shadow falling upon a door whilst standing at it causes it to appear darkened. Alternatively, possibly derived from an old sense of darken meaning "to lie in wait, loiter, lurk".

Questions about darken someone's door

What does darken someone's door mean?
Darken someone's door means to arrive at someone's residence or location, especially as an unexpected visitor.
What part of speech is darken someone's door?
Darken someone's door is a verb.
What is the past tense of darken someone's door?
The past tense of darken someone's door is darkened someone's door.

Words near darken someone's door in the dictionary

  1. darked
  2. darked up
  3. darken
  4. darken a church door
  5. darken down
  6. darken someone's door
  7. darken someone's doorstep
  8. darken someone's doorway
  9. darken up
  10. darkened
  11. darkened a church door

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: darken someone's door (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-darken someone's door.ogg.

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