as one door closes, another one opens    

If you say `as one door closes, another one opens', you mean that if one thing you do fails, you will soon have an opportunity to try to succeed at something else. This expression is often used to encourage someone to keep trying after they have had a disappointment or failure.

Earlier in the week, Roberts was philosophical after losing his Sheikh Mohammed, who will not have one retained rider next . `Obviously, I am a little disappointed,' he explained, `But one door closes and another one opens. You can't dwell on these things and I will just put my head down and work a bit harder.'

beat a path to someone's door

If people are beating a path to your door, they are eager to talk to you or do business with you.

Gone are the days when the man who made a better mousetrap than his neighbour could expect the world to beat a path to his door.

Business leaders should be beating a path to Mr Eggar's door demanding that tough environmental laws be passed.

Fashion editors now beat a path to door and thousands of followers flock to get into Mugler of his .

by the back door

through the back door

If someone gets or does something by the back door or through the back door, they do it secretly and unofficially. This expression is used mainly in British English.

de said the government would not allow anyone to sneak in by the back door and seize power by force.

There will be no more increases for top officials through the back door.

Back door can be used before a noun.

David Hinchliffe, for Labour, accused the Government of introducing a back door method of closing council homes.

close the stable door after the horse has bolted

close the barn door after the horse has gone

In British English, if you say that an action is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted, you mean that it is too late to take this action now, because the problem which it would have prevented has already occurred. This expression is often varied. For example, you can use other verbs with similar meanings to `close' and `bolt', and you can use `door' instead of `stable door'.

It is nice to see Severn Trent taking positive action, even though it might look like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

Ever heard of shutting the stable door after the horse has run away?

At best, say critics, this strategy is like shutting the door after the horse has bolted.

In American English, you say that an action is like closing the barn door after the horse has gone. This expression can also be varied.

This all has the feeling of closing the barn door after the horse gone.

Like the guy who closes the barn door after the proverbial horse has run off, I suddenly became very diet conscious.

knock at your door

come knocking at your door

If something such as a problem or opportunity is knocking at your door or comes knocking at your door, it is likely to happen soon or is starting to happen.

During these tough economic times, feeling the spirit can be difficult, especially when the recession has come knocking at your door.

All of his life he had been hankering after his personal freedom, and now freedom was knocking at his door, begging him to come in.

knock on the door

If someone is knocking on the door of a club or group, they are trying to join it or become part of it.

and are two players I'm sure will be knocking on the England door soon.

Until recently women were knocking on the door of a man's world asking to be let in.

lay something at someone's door

If you lay something at someone's door, you blame them for something unpleasant that has happened.

The Morning Star has no doubt about who is responsible for the riot. Its editorial says the blame must be laid at the door of the government.

The robberies now laid at Brady's door.

not darken somewhere's door

never darken someone's door

If someone never goes to a place, you can say that they do not darken its door. If someone tells you never to darken their door again, they are ordering you never to visit them again because you have done something to make them very angry or upset. You can use `doorstep' instead of `door'. This is an old-fashioned expression.

He had not darkened the door of a church for a long time.

The law firm controls them told to destroy all dossiers and never darken their doorstep again.

push at an open door    

If you say that someone is pushing at an open door or is pushing against an open door, you mean that they are finding it very easy to achieve their aims. These expressions are used in British English.

`Most departments were helpful,' she says, `although enthusiasm was a bit muted in a few cases. In the main we now seem to be pushing at an open door.'

not much effort required, when you are pushing against an open door.

the revolving door¹

If you talk about the revolving door of an organization or institution, you are referring to the fact that the people working in it do not stay there for very long, and so, for example, it is difficult for anything effective to be achieved.

The revolving door at Wests has only just stopped spinning. A huge turnover of players is usually not the ideal basis for success.

For the next 25 years, Caramoo had a revolving door of executives.

You can also use revolving-door before a noun.

High spending in the '80s by Italy's revolving-door governments swelled the public sector debt.

the revolving door²

In politics, the revolving door is used to refer to a situation in which someone moves from an influential position in government to a position in a private company, especially where this may give them an unfair advantage. Sometimes this expression is used to refer to a situation where someone moves from the private sector to government, and then back again.

Mr Smith also spoke of with directorships in industries where they set up the regulatory environment, and of the revolving door for senior civil servants getting jobs in industry connected with their former department.

Bill Clinton ran a campaign that included a strong pledge to stop the revolving door between public service and the private sector.

the revolving door³

You can use the revolving door to refer to a situation where solutions to problems only last for a short time, and then the same problems occur again.

East Palo Alto juveniles, like others nationwide, are caught in the revolving door of the justice system, ending up back on the streets after serving time, faced with their old life.

You can also use revolving-door before a noun.

This is the revolving-door syndrome: no home, no job, no money; hence crime, increasing isolation from society, imprisonment; hence no home on release, and back again to prison.