darken (one's) door
darken (one's) door
To come to one's home as an unwelcome visitor. I made sure he'll never darken our door again. I'm sorry to darken your door, but I had nowhere else to go after my wife kicked me out. Hoo boy, if Cousin Sadie darkens our door, how will we get her to leave?
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
darken someone's door
Fig. [for an unwelcome person] to come to someone's door seeking entry. (As if the visitor were casting a shadow on the door. Formal, or even jocular.) Who is this who has come to darken my door? She pointed to the street and said, "Go and never darken my door again!"
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
darken someone's door
Come unwanted to someone's home, as in I told him to get out and never darken my door again. The verb darken here refers to casting one's shadow across the threshold, a word that occasionally was substituted for door. As an imperative, the expression is associated with Victorian melodrama, where someone (usually a young woman or man) is thrown out of the parental home for some misdeed, but it is actually much older. Benjamin Franklin used it in The Busybody (1729): "I am afraid she would resent it so as never to darken my doors again."
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.