threshold

noun

1. the sill of a doorway.
2. the entrance to a house or building.
3. any place or point of entering or beginning: the threshold of a new career.
4. Also called limen. Psychology, Physiology. the point at which a stimulus is of sufficient intensity to begin to produce an effect: the threshold of consciousness; a low threshold of pain.

noun

1. Also called: doorsill a sill, esp one made of stone or hardwood, placed at a doorway
2. any doorway or entrance
3. the starting point of an experience, event, or ventureon the threshold of manhood
4. psychol the strength at which a stimulus is just perceivedthe threshold of consciousness Compare absolute threshold, difference threshold
5. 1. a level or point at which something would happen, would cease to happen, or would take effect, become true, etc
   2. (as modifier)threshold price; threshold effect
6. 1. the minimum intensity or value of a signal, etc, that will produce a response or specified effecta frequency threshold
   2. (as modifier)a threshold current
7. (modifier) designating or relating to a pay agreement, clause, etc, that raises wages to compensate for increases in the cost of living

n.Old English þrescold, þærscwold, þerxold “doorsill, point of entering,” first element related to Old English þrescan (see thresh), with its original sense of “tread, trample.” Second element of unknown origin and much transformed in all the Germanic languages; in English it probably has been altered to conform to hold, but the oft-repeated story that the threshold was a barrier placed at the doorway to hold the chaff flooring in the room is mere folk etymology. Cognates include Old Norse þreskjoldr, Swedish tröskel, Old High German driscufli, German dialectal drischaufel. n.

1. The place or point of beginning; the outset.
2. The lowest point at which a stimulus begins to produce a sensation.
3. The minimal stimulus that produces excitation of any structure, eliciting a motor response.