Lock
Lock (lok) , noun
[Anglo-Saxon locc; akin to Dutch lok, German locke, Old High German loc, Icelandic lokkr, and perh. to Greek {not transcribed} to bend, twist.]
A tuft of hair; a flock or small quantity of wool, hay, or other like substance; a tress or ringlet of hair.
These gray locks, the pursuivants of death.
Lock , noun
[Anglo-Saxon loc inclosure, an inclosed place, the fastening of a door, from lūcan to lock, fasten; akin to Old Saxon lūkan (in comp.), Dutch luiken, Old High German lūhhan, Icelandic lūka, Gothic lūkan (in comp.); compare Sanskrit ruj to break. Compare Locket.]
1.
Anything that fastens; specifically, a fastening, as for a door, a lid, a trunk, a drawer, and the like, in which a bolt is moved by a key so as to hold or to release the thing fastened.
2.
A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.
Albemarle Street closed by a lock of carriages.
3.
A place from which egress is prevented, as by a lock. — Dryden
4.
The barrier or works which confine the water of a stream or canal.
5.
An inclosure in a canal with gates at each end, used in raising or lowering boats as they pass from one level to another; -- called also lift lock.
6.
That part or apparatus of a firearm by which the charge is exploded; as, a matchlock, flintlock, percussion lock, etc.
7.
A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
8.
A grapple in wrestling. — Milton
Collocations (9)
Detector lock , a lock containing a contrivance for showing whether it as has been tampered with.
Lock bay (Canals) , the body of water in a lock chamber.
Lock chamber , the inclosed space between the gates of a canal lock.
Lock nut , See Check nut, under Check.
Lock plate , a plate to which the mechanism of a gunlock is attached.
Lock rail (Architecture) , in ordinary paneled doors, the rail nearest the lock.
Lock rand (Masonry) , a range of bond stone. — Knight
Mortise lock , a door lock inserted in a mortise.
Rim lock , a lock fastened to the face of a door, thus differing from a mortise lock.
Lock , transitive verb
1.
To fasten with a lock, or as with a lock; to make fast; to prevent free movement of; as, to lock a door, a carriage wheel, a river, etc.
2.
To prevent ingress or access to, or exit from, by fastening the lock or locks of; -- often with up; as, to lock or lock up, a house, jail, room, trunk. etc.
3.
To fasten in or out, or to make secure by means of, or as with, locks; to confine, or to shut in or out -- often with up; as, to lock one's self in a room; to lock up the prisoners; to lock up one's silver; to lock intruders out of the house; to lock money into a vault; to lock a child in one's arms; to lock a secret in one's breast.
4.
To link together; to clasp closely; as, to lock arms.
Lock hand in hand.
5.
(Canals) To furnish with locks; also, to raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
6.
(Fencing) To seize, as the sword arm of an antagonist, by turning the left arm around it, to disarm him.
Lock , intransitive verb
To become fast, as by means of a lock or by interlacing; as, the door locks close.
When it locked none might through it pass.
Collocations (1)
To lock into , to fit or slide into; as, they lock into each other. — Boyle