In general sense of the language we would say that a door "opens" or "closes". But I am looking for a one-word answer (preferably) that would indicate its motion around the hinge. Does it swivel, swerve, flap? (you get the idea)
NOTE: I am not talking about spin doors that revolve or sliding doors, just the conventional ones with hinge(s).
And, please go through the entire question. This is not a duplicate of What does the door do? or Is there a word that means both opening and closing a door?
The door swings on its hinge.
To move backward and forward, especially rotating about or hanging from a fixed point.
Turns, as suggested by other answerers, sounds like another great possibility. But a quick look at the actual usage stats brings up something interesting.
Here are the top 50 collocations for "the door [v*]" from the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) and the British National Corpus (BNC):
| COCA | BNC
| |
1 | OPENED 992 | WAS 402
2 | WAS 943 | OPENED 327
3 | OPEN 830 | OPEN 175
4 | IS 659 | CLOSED 151
5 | OPENS 611 | SHUT 103
6 | SHUT 588 | IS 73
7 | CLOSED 573 | SWUNG 57
8 | SWUNG 249 | HAD 53
9 | CLOSES 164 | SLAMMED 42
10 | HAD 158 | LEADING 21
11 | SLAMMED 137 | OPENS 21
12 | LEADING 98 | WOULD 20
13 | SLAMS 92 | BURST 19
14 | WOULD 88 | 'S 19
15 | SLID 80 | LOCKED 19
16 | 'S 71 | WILL 18
17 | LOCKED 66 | FLEW 17
18 | FLEW 63 | WERE 16
19 | CREAKED 57 | BEING 13
20 | CLOSE 56 | SLID 13
21 | SWINGS 50 | HAS 11
22 | HAS 49 | BANGED 11
23 | SHUTS 49 | CLICKED 11
24 | CLICKED 46 | MADE 10
25 | SLAM 45 | CLOSE 9
26 | UNLOCKED 43 | CRASHED 9
27 | BURST 40 | MUST 9
28 | BANGED 40 | DID 8
29 | WEARING 39 | SAYING 8
30 | SAID 36 | CREAKED 7
31 | CRACKED 34 | CAN 7
32 | DID 34 | LOOKING 7
33 | WERE 34 | SHUTS 7
34 | WILL 34 | BEGAN 6
35 | CAME 30 | CLOSES 6
36 | ARE 29 | OPENING 6
37 | STOOD 28 | STOOD 6
38 | LOOKING 25 | WENT 6
39 | COULD 23 | FELL 5
40 | BEING 22 | BROKE 5
41 | DOES 21 | CAME 5
42 | GAVE 21 | HISSED 5
43 | BURSTS 20 | MIGHT 5
44 | CLOSING 20 | SLAM 5
45 | CRASHED 20 | SWINGING 5
46 | FLIES 20 | UNLOCKED 5
47 | REMAINED 19 | WO 5
48 | CAN 18 | CLANGED 4
49 | HIT 18 | FACING 4
50 | COMES 16 | INTERRUPTED 4
As you can see, out of these swing is the top (and arguably only) verb that fits your bill, while turn is not even on the list.
If turns is too bland for you, you could say that it pivots on the hinge.
Picking the "right" word depends much on your context, too.
"The door swung open" is indeed a very natural way to indicate the movement. However, if you were to, say, describe the appartus of an experiment in a scientific journal, swing might not be the best verb to use; something more "formal" like pivot may work better.
Then again, there's turn, which can be a very apt word in a metaphor, much like Wouk's metaphor quoted in Malvolio's answer to your question. In that context, I think turn works much better than swing or swivel.
Then there's flap, which you offered in your question. I think that would work best if you were describing a loose shutter in a strong wind.
The shutter turned in the wind.
The shutter swung in the wind.
The shutter swiveled in the wind.
The shutter flapped in the wind.
Which do you think sounds best?
It just turns on its hinge. Sorry.
The story begins with Willie Keith because the event turns on his personality as the massive door of a vault turns on a small jewel bearing. -- The Caine Mutiny Herman Wouk
The door could be said to articulate on the hinge.
The door rests on its hinges.
Well, that's what I would say!
