# Does the statement "the door was closed over" mean anything to you? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 30, 2019, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747 "2019-05-30T00:56:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/21 "2019-05-30T17:49:28Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > Your analysis of _over_ is not correct. As a preposition or adverb it usually indicates relative position, and not necessarily in the “on top of” sense. If you consider this list of phrasal verbs, it _never_ indicates completion, and it is usually synonymous with something like _across_. > > [Category:English phrasal verbs with particle (over) - Wiktionary, the free dictionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:English_phrasal_verbs_with_particle_(over)) > > So we’d talk about pulling curtains over a window, where _over_ does not indicate completion, it indicates position - that the curtain is _across_ the window, covering it. > > And the _act_ of closing something is dynamic - one may begin closing something or partially close it. > > It seems quite consistent with all this other usage that “closed over” has a meaning that the door has been closed to a point that it is over (in the sense of across, covering) the gap. Ehhhhh… I would not “talk about pulling curtains over a window”, that sounds odd as well, thought not as much. Curtains generally go “across” a window, from side to side, or “down” if they’re blinds. But I would think that pulling the curtains “over” a window would by default mean to have completely cover the window. Just as to “cover one’s eyes” would mean to result in not being able to see anything, not “it’s halfway down and I can see around it”. Most of the “over” expressions listed on the Wiki page you gave (I didn’t know that would be in Wikipedia) you consider as “relative position” are in fact “over” in the sense of “on top of” for the relative positioning, as far as I can tell, except in cases like “to come/go over”, which is indicating a direction of travel towards someone, as to close a gap. But it’s true, “X over” can take on many different colloquial meanings. I was thinking the other day of the term “warmed over”. It’s usually a phrase used figuratively, to indicate an act (like in a show) or an idea is derivative, rehashed, or something to that effect. What exactly does that mean? Is the use of “over” there meant to evoke food that wasn’t recently reheated, but continuously kept warm since its original cooking (but at a lower, non-cooking temperature), as opposed to simply “reheated”? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/22 "2019-05-30T18:49:22Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > But I would think that pulling the curtains “over” a window would by default mean to have completely cover the window. Sure, _over_ in this context indicates relative position, _on top of_ or _in front of_ or _across_, and with the implication that the thing behind is thus covered or obscured. That seems consistent with the definition given by UDS above: > [@UDS](#): > > There’s a gap between the door and the the jamb, but small enough that you can’t easily see into the room. In other words, it’s closed in a manner that is _over_ the hole, _across_ it and sufficient to cover it and block sight of the room; but not latched or locked. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2019, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/23 "2019-05-30T22:05:25Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > I would guess the door was sealed by being bricked or plastered etc. over. I’m from Australia. A quick google says it’s not a thing except in computer programming. I’d have supposed this, too. Though I wouldn’t have been sure I got the meaning right. ---
**Author:** ![I.Dunno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9f8e36/32.png) [@I.Dunno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I.Dunno)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/24 "2019-05-31T05:51:03Z")
Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/25 "2019-05-31T05:57:19Z")
> [@robardin](#): > > What exactly does that mean? Is the use of “over” there meant to evoke food that wasn’t recently reheated, but continuously kept warm since its original cooking (but at a lower, non-cooking temperature), as opposed to simply “reheated”? It means the same as “warmed”, that is, reheated, not continuously warm. It’s not totally an unnecessary modifier. In some cases, the term could mean that the food, having been reheated, is not as good as it had been originally, that it has lost some flavor, or texture, in the reheating. To “cover over a window with curtains” means the curtains totally block the light. To “put curtains over a window” means curtains totally cover a window. But to put, say, a picture over the window means the picture is above the window. To cover over a window with a picture means you have a really big picture, bigger than the window. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/26 "2019-05-31T06:47:32Z")
“Over” in “warmed over” I have always understood in the sense of “again” - “warmed over” means “reheated”. It has the same sense in “do over”, and other idioms. Rightly or wrongly, I think of this sense of “over” as an AmE characteristic, and I don’t think it will have any connection to the Irish “closed over” idiom related to doors. I suspect - a wild guess - it may be an anglicisation of an Irish (as in, Irish language) usage. Notoriously, there tends not to be one-to-one correspondence between prepositions in different languages. There’s an Irish prpoosiation _thar_. meanings something like over, across, against. If a door is almost but not quite shut, it’s closed to me, or closed against me, in the sense that I can’t pass through the doorway without first opening the door. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/27 "2019-05-31T07:46:05Z")
I understand it to mean that the door is closed to the extent that you can’t see through the gap, but not fully closed. I would never have thought it was an unusual expression or difficult to understand. “Over” in this context means “across” as in “over the road”. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/28 "2019-05-31T10:28:37Z")
Here is English author [Craig Robertson](https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/craig-robertson/) in _Witness The Dead_. The action explains exactly what he means. > [@](#): > > As he reached his landing, he threw the camera bag onto his other shoulder and reached for the lock with his key, only to stop dead in his tracks. The door was closed over but already open. > > He froze, his heart clattering into his ribcage as he came to a sudden halt. He pushed gently at the door with his fingertips, feeling it float away from him. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/29 "2019-05-31T12:58:06Z")
Never heard it. From Chicago. For sealed apertures, I’d expect to hear “bricked over” or “blocked off.” So - when is a door not a door? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/30 "2019-05-31T13:06:26Z")
I would take it as either sealed up, like inside a wall, or a path in life that is no longer a option, depending on context, but both would be a odd usage of the words. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/31 "2019-05-31T13:40:22Z")
Not a phrase I’ve encountered, but if I did I’d parse it akin to one of these descrips: > [@Isamu](#): > > I would guess the door was sealed by being bricked or plastered etc. over. I’m from Australia. A quick google says it’s not a thing except in computer programming. > [@DSeid](#): > > _Vaguely_ familiar but I’d understand its intended meaning as a path that is now not possible and perhaps because of stupidity, like wallpapering over a doorway. > > Maybe my mom had said it. > > Chicago area. Mom grew up in one Chicago’s first housing projects. > [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > To me, it means closed and sealed. No longer a door, just a wall. Can’t even see the door anymore. > > Wisconsin born and raised. > > eta: It IS a thing. I’ve heard it used. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/32 "2019-05-31T13:44:24Z")
Never. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/33 "2019-05-31T13:50:42Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Here is English author [Craig Robertson](https://www.fantasticfiction.com/r/craig-robertson/) in _Witness The Dead_. The action explains exactly what he means. “The door was closed over but already open.” That doesn’t even make sense! No wonder people are confused. > [@UDS](#): > > In a context in which a closed door would mean “do not disturb!”, a door closed over mean there’s no objection to your knocking, and sticking your head around the door. If “closed over” means “slightly open”, then it wouldn’t be a surprise that a door “closed over” was “but already open”. It’s the same thing! ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/34 "2019-05-31T14:02:48Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > “The door was closed over but already open.” > > That doesn’t even make sense! No wonder people are confused. > > If “closed over” means “slightly open”, then it wouldn’t be a surprise that a door “closed over” was “but already open”. It’s the same thing! It’s ok using literary license. Imagine it- you walk into a room expecting the door to be closed but it’s not. You might describe it in a novel as: “The door was ajar but already opened!” Seeing the door ajar made you realize it was already opened. Never heard the phrase and would be expected it to mean sealed off. I can reconcile it with the word “doorway”, as in “closed over the door_way_”, but not completely closed. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/35 "2019-05-31T15:29:11Z")
Never heard of it. I speak American Mid-Atlantic English. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/36 "2019-05-31T19:38:13Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Never heard it. From Chicago. > > For sealed apertures, I’d expect to hear “bricked over” or “blocked off.” > > So - when is a door not a door? 😉 When it’s ajar! Never heard this “closed over” thing before. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/37 "2019-05-31T22:52:58Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > I understand it to mean that the door is closed to the extent that you can’t see through the gap, but not fully closed. I would never have thought it was an unusual expression or difficult to understand. “Over” in this context means “across” as in “over the road”. But Americans don’t use the phrase _over the road_ that way, either. If you didn’t explain it as across, I would have no idea what you were getting at because my only context for “over the road” is long-distance trucking. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2019, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/38 "2019-06-01T06:18:43Z")
Never heard it used that I recall; I would assume it means sealed in some way. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/39 "2019-06-08T21:01:39Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > The door was closed over. > > Two of my friends are debating about this turn of phrase, which one uses and the other thinks is something only friend 1 says. The friend who uses it \*was \*able to find a video clip of the phrase being used in a movie the way she does… > > If this turn of phrase means something to you: > > a. what does it imply about the door? > b. where are you from?? Never heard this phraseology before. A: My best guess would be that the door was permanently taken out of commission - e.g. bricked or boarded over, so that it could not be used. b: Pennsylvania ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2019, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747/40 "2019-06-13T04:09:13Z")
My first thought was that I’ve never heard that phrase before, and that if I had to guess at a meaning it would be that the door have been rendered unusable by being blocked, boarded over, etc. After reading the other responses, it occurs to me that I may have heard it specifically n the context of remodeling a building, and in that context it refers to a door that has been ‘removed’, such that the place where the door used to be is not just a solid wall. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-statement-the-door-was-closed-over-mean-anything-to-you/834747.md?page=3)