doorstop

Noun

doorstop (plural doorstops)

1. Any device or object used to halt the motion of a door, as a large or heavy object, a wedge, or some piece of hardware fixed to the floor, door or wall.
2. (humorous) A large book, which by implication could be used to stop a door.
   • Meanwhile, all the Democrats had to put forward that year was a doorstop called Man of the House: The Life and Political Memoirs of Speaker Tip O'Neill.2010, Jack Hitt, “Is Sarah Palin Porn?”, in Laura Flanders, editor, At The Tea Party: The Wing Nuts, Whack Jobs and Whitey-Whiteness of the New Republican Right... and Why We Should Take It...
   • Walter Isaacson’s insight-free doorstop makes at least one thing clear: the richest man in the world has a lot of growing up to do[.]2023 September 13, Gary Shteyngart, “Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson review – arrested development”, in The Guardian, →ISSN
3. (UK, nonstandard, proscribed) Eggcorn of doorstep.
4. (Australia) An interview with a politician or other public figure (apparently informal or spontaneous but often planned), as they enter or leave a building.
   • And television dominates this place — just look at Beazley tossing around cans of tomato soup at his morning doorstops outside Parliament House.2005, Mark Latham, The Latham Diaries, page 106
   • The six o′clock news was regarded as the pivotal point in the day. As the news was beginning, often the Premier would make himself available for a doorstop press conference.2006, Troy Bramston, The Wran Era, page 244