To bring to an end, and to shut. Also nearness — the same word for ending a thing and for being beside it.

The lawful way in — an opening with a threshold, consent's own architecture: it can be knocked on, opened, or left closed.

The way in. An entrance is the first thing a place says about itself.

The one who tends a threshold — deciding what passes by declared law, never by whim; a tending agent's seat in this house.

The sheltered threshold before a door — where a house meets its visitors; in this house, every kin's own front step.

A doorway into somewhere else. A portal is defined by what it opens onto, not by its own shape.

The line at a doorway, and the level at which something changes. Both are places where crossing matters.