doorstep

An outside step leading up to the door of a building, usually a home.

Ailie was standing by the doorstep as he came down the road, and her heart stood still with joy.

With a little manœuvring they contrived to meet on the doorstep which was […] in a boiling stream of passers-by, hurrying business people speeding past in a flurry of fumes and dust in the bright haze.

One's immediate neighbourhood or locality.

They want to build the prison right on our doorstep; it will only be half a mile away and being that close scares me.

As a Hitchin signalman once pointed out to me, when a regulating quandary arises concerning a fast-moving Class A train there is no time to consult Control and get their answer before the express is on one's doorstep.

A thick slice, especially of bread.

I cut myself a doorstep of bread with masses of butter and went along to see Romanov while I was eating it.

To visit one household after another to solicit sales, charitable donations, political support, etc.

To corner somebody for an unexpected interview.

Throughout her time in journalism, she doorstepped politicians, the child of a politician, crime victims, armed robbers, murderers, suspected murderers...

Surprisingly few people refused to talk, even those I doorstepped or telephoned out of the blue.