gate vs door
- Thread starter al-anwaar
- Start date
- Views : 4,826
- Status
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2010
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- British English
- Home Country
- Czech Republic
- Current Location
- Czech Republic
I have moved your post to a new thread, al-anwaar. Please do not tack questions on to an existing thread if they have nothing to do with the topic being discussed.
HanibalII
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
Generally a door is internal, however a gate can be both internal and external. A baby gate is a good example of this.
Odessa Dawn
Key Member
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2012
- Location
- Saudi Arabia
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Arabic
- Home Country
- Saudi Arabia
- Current Location
- Saudi Arabia
HanibalII
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2011
- Member Type
- Retired English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Canada
- Current Location
- Canada
For the most part, I agree with you that gates are external. A gate restricts access to a yard, a field, or any outdoor space. There are some exceptions, some of them technical, such as waste gate or sluice gate. But baby gate, pointed out by Haniballl, is the only one I can think of that actually brings a gate inside the house.
HanibalII
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
I was also thinking of a cell gate in a prison. In movies etc I've heard them called gates and doors, so I'm not sure how you would categorise that.
- Joined
- Jan 7, 2011
- Member Type
- Retired English Teacher
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Canada
- Current Location
- Canada
Your reply calls attention to another distinction: gates are openwork They are collections of horizontal and vertical members, whereas doors are solid.
HanibalII
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
But not all doors are solid though. Screendoors? They may have mesh on them, but so do some gates.
HanibalII
Member
- Joined
- May 9, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- English
- Home Country
- Australia
- Current Location
- Australia
Got me again
Haha. This is why I find it confusing. What defines a gate, and what defines a door?
According to a quick google search:
Door:
[COLOR=#878787 !important]Noun[/COLOR]
|
Gate:
[COLOR=#878787 !important]Noun[/COLOR]
|
It doesn't specify internal or external. An opening in a wall could be internal or external.
And just a couple of Merriam-Webster links:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gate
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/door
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2009
- Member Type
- English Teacher
- Native Language
- British English
- Home Country
- UK
- Current Location
- UK
And garden gates are usually made of several solid planks of wood and are designed to be solid/strong enough to stop people getting in to your garden.
- Status
