doorkeeper

n.
One who is employed to guard an entrance or gateway.

Visitors waiting for seats in the House and Senate galleries are supervised by doorkeepers. These doorkeepers enforce the rules of the chamber, maintain decorum, and regulate the flow of traffic. They also make sure that only those with floor privileges enter the floor of the chamber, and they bar all visitors during closed executive sessions. The doorkeepers operate under the supervision of the Senate and House sergeants at arms. During the President's State of the Union message, it was traditionally the role of the House doorkeeper to announce loudly, “Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States.” In 1995, the office of House doorkeeper was abolished and its duties divided among the clerk of the House and sergeant at arms.

The sergeant at arms now announces the President and other guests to the chamber.

See also Dress code, congressional; Executive sessions of Congress; Floor privileges; Galleries

Sources

• William “Fishbait” Miller. Fish-bait: The Memoirs of a Congressional Doorkeeper (New York: Warner, 1977)

Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.

The noun has 2 meanings:

Meaning #1: an official doorkeeper as in a courtroom or legislative chamber
  Synonym: usher

Meaning #2: someone who guards the entrance to a building
  Synonyms: doorman, door guard, hall porter, porter, gatekeeper, ostiary

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - dørvogter

Nederlands (Dutch)
conciërge, laagste heilige orde (Rooms katholiek)

Français (French)
n. - portier, concierge

Deutsch (German)
n. - Pförtner, Portier

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - θυρωρός, πορτιέρης

Italiano (Italian)
usciere

Português (Portuguese)
n. - porteiro (m)

Русский (Russian)
швейцар, привратник

Español (Spanish)
n. - conserje, portero

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - portvakt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
看门的人

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 看門的人

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 경비

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 門番

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) البواب, شخص يحرس, المدخل الرئيسي لمبنى كبير‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮שוער‬

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