The plank, stone, or piece of timber, which lies under a door, especially of a dwelling house, church, temple, or the like; the doorsill; hence, entrance; gate; door. [1913 Webster]

Fig.: The place or point of entering or beginning, entrance; outset; as, the threshold of life. [1913 Webster]

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OXFORD DICTIONARY

Threshold, n.
1 a strip of wood or stone forming the bottom of a doorway and crossed in entering a house or room etc.
2 a point of entry or beginning (on the threshold of a new century).
3 Physiol. & Psychol. a limit below which a stimulus causes no reaction (pain threshold).
4 Physics a limit below which no reaction occurs, esp. a minimum dose of radiation producing a specified effect.
5 (often attrib.) a step in a scale of wages or taxation, usu. operative in specified conditions.

Etymology

OE therscold, threscold, etc., rel. to THRASH in the sense 'tread'

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THESAURUS

Threshold
French door, archway, back door, barway, beginning, border line, bound, boundary, boundary condition, boundary line, bourn, break boundary, breakoff point, brink, bulkhead, carriage entrance, ceiling, cellar door, cellarway, circumscription, commencement, compass, confine, cutoff, cutoff point, dawn, deadline, delimitation, determinant, division line, door, doorjamb, doorpost, doorsill, doorstep, doorstone, doorway, edge, end, entrance, entrance hall, entranceway, entry, entryway, extremity, finish, floor, foyer, front door, frontier, galilee, gate, gatepost, gateway, groundsel, hatch, hatchway, hedge, high-water mark, interface, limen, limit, limitation, limiting factor, line, line of demarcation, lintel, lobby, low-water mark, lower limit, march, mark, mete, mudsill, narthex, outset, point, porch, portal, porte cochere, portico, postern, propylaeum, pylon, scuttle, side door, sill, start, starting line, starting point, stile, stoa, storm door, target date, term, terminal date, terminus, time allotment, tollgate, trap, trap door, turnpike, turnstile, upper limit, verge, vestibule, window sill

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ROGET THESAURUS

Threshold

Beginning
N beginning, commencement, opening, outset, incipience, inception, inchoation, introduction, alpha, initial, inauguration, debut, le premier pas, embarcation, rising of the curtain, maiden speech, outbreak, onset, brunt, initiative, move, first move, narrow end of the wedge, thin end of the wedge, fresh start, new departure, origin, source, rise, bud, germ, egg, rudiment, genesis, primogenesis, birth, nativity, cradle, infancy, start, inception, creation, starting point, dawn, evolution, title-page, head, heading, van, caption, fatihah, entrance, entry, inlet, orifice, mouth, chops, lips, porch, portal, portico, propylon, door, gate, gateway, postern, wicket, threshold, vestibule, propylaeum, skirts, border, first stage, first blush, first glance, first impression, first sight, rudiments, elements, outlines, grammar, alphabet, ABC, beginning, initial, initiatory, initiative, inceptive, introductory, incipient, proemial, inaugural, inchoate, inchoative, embryonic, rudimental, primogenial, primeval, primitive, primordial, aboriginal, natal, nascent, first, foremost, leading, maiden, begun, just begun, at the beginning, in the beginning first, in the first place, imprimis, first and foremost, in limine, in the bud, in embryo, in its infancy, from the beginning, from its birth, ab initio, ab ovo, ab incunabilis, ab origine, let's get going!, let's get this show on the road!, up and at 'em!, aller Anfang ist schwer, dimidium facti qui coepit habet, omnium rerum principia parva sunt.

Edge
N edge, verge, brink, brow, brim, margin, border, confine, skirt, rim, flange, side, mouth, jaws, chops, chaps, fauces, lip, muzzle, threshold, door, porch, portal, coast, shore, frame, fringe, flounce, frill, list, trimming, edging, skirting, hem, selvedge, welt, furbelow, valance, gimp, border, marginal, skirting, labial, labiated, marginated.

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