OT: help with English phrase, please!

In "push the door to", the word "to" can be replaced by "nearly shut". Then, the exact meaning will depend on the door itself ands circumstances.

For harry it appears impossible to understand but nothing new there eh. ;-)

We don't have central heating (eot Victorian cottage with solid 9" walls and a Wife still suffering regular thermal overloads) so we just have heating in the rooms we are using.

So, if someone visits from a house with CH they typically don't 'push the (lounge) door to' the first time they come in till we ask them to.

It doesn't need to be shut completely, it just needs to be closed sufficiently to stop most of the heat rushing out quickly.

Cheers, T i m

But, is there any point in having circumstance without pomp?

I'm a little late to this party, but perhaps I can observe that even in the (insert your own word here) south, "pushing a door to" means moving it to the point where it is almost but not entirely shut. If there is a latch or catch it should remain unlatched or catched, the point being to reduce draught or exterior noise without producing the slightly claustrophobic effect of sealing the room more completely.

yes I agree with this version, it was especailly used to say close the door but not to latch it thios meant the cat could push it open to come in, the n the door would be 'pushed to' so that no draught was felt but the cat cou ld pull the door open wituh it;s poor to let itself out (or back in ).