lock
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /lɒk/
- (General American) IPA(key): /lɑk/
- Homophones: Locke; lark (non-rhotic, father-bother merger)
- Rhymes: -ɒk
Etymology 1
From Middle English lok, from Old English loc, from Proto-West Germanic *lok, from Proto-Germanic *luką from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (“to bend; turn”). The verb is from Middle English locken, lokken, louken, from Old English lūcan, Proto-West Germanic *lūkan, from Proto-Germanic *lūkaną. Related to luxe via Latin.
Noun
lock (plural locks)
- Something used for fastening, which can only be opened with a key or combination.
- 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
- "Give me the key," said my mother; and though the lock was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.
- (computing, by extension) A mutex or other token restricting access to a resource.
- 2005, Karl Kopper, The Linux Enterprise Cluster:
- [T]he application must first acquire a lock on a file or a portion of a file before reading data and modifying it.
- A segment of a canal or other waterway enclosed by gates, used for raising and lowering boats between levels.
- 1846, William Makepeace Thackeray, Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo:
- Here the canal came to a check, ending abruptly with a large lock.
- (firearms) The firing mechanism.
- 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC:
- "I never saw such a gun in my life," replied poor Winkle, looking at the lock, as if that would do any good.
- Complete control over a situation.
- 2003, Charley Rosen, The Wizard of Odds:
- Even though he had not yet done so, Jack felt he had a lock on the game.
- Something sure to be a success.
- 2004, Avery Corman, A perfect divorce:
- Brian thinks she's a lock to get a scholarship somewhere.
- (gambling) Synonym of Dutch book
- (rugby) A player in the scrum behind the front row, usually the tallest members of the team.
- 2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania”, in BBC Sport:
- Ashton only had to wait three minutes for his second try, lock Louis Deacon setting it up with a rollocking line-break, before Romania got on the scoreboard courtesy of a penalty from fly-half Marin Danut Dumbrava.
- A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.
- 1834 September–November; 1835 January, Thomas De Quincey, “Samuel Taylor Coleridge”, in Autobiographic Sketches: With Recollections of the Lakes (De Quincey’s Works; II), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 207:
- [O]n may of his lecture days I have seen all Albemarle Street closed by a "lock" of carriages, filled with women of distinction, until the servants of the Institution or their own footmen advanced to the carriage-doors with the intelligence that Mr. Coleridge had been suddenly taken ill.
- A place impossible to get out of, as by a lock.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Fifth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
- Sergestus, eager with his beak to press / Betwixt the rival galley and the rock, / Shuts up the unwieldy Centaur in the lock
- A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
- A grapple in wrestling.
- [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London: […] Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC:
- They must be also practis'd in all the Locks and Gripes of Wrestling
Hyponyms
- airlock
- ankle lock
- caplock
- caps lock, capslock, Caps Lock
- child lock
- core lock
- deadlock
- dial lock
- doglock
- flash lock
- flat lock
- flintlock
- gridlock
- gunlock
- gust lock
- job lock
- knob lock
- leglock
- liplock
- livelock
- lock gate
- matchlock
- num lock
- overlock
- padlock
- scroll lock
- shift lock
- staircase lock
- tide lock
- time lock
- wheellock
- Windsor Locks
Derived terms
Derived terms of lock (noun) without hyponyms
- air lock
- alcolock
- bike lock
- Bramah lock
- button lock
- cannon lock
- clasp lock
- combination lock
- couch lock
- differential lock
- diff lock
- D lock
- double lock standing seam
- drop lock
- drop-lock
- electric lock pick
- Enfield Lock
- eyelock
- fermentation lock
- frame lock
- genlock
- gimbal lock
- guard lock
- have it on lock
- hep-lock
- hip lock
- hock lock
- horse-lock
- hydrostatic lock
- jail lock
- Janus-faced lock
- joint lock
- keycard lock
- leg lock
- line lock
- liner lock
- lip-lock
- lip lock
- lockbox
- lock convoy
- lock-down
- lockdown
- lockfast
- Lock Haven
- lock hospital
- lock key
- lockmaster
- locknote
- lock pick
- lockpick
- lock-pick
- lock pick gun
- lock-picking
- lockpicking
- lock picking
- Lockport
- lock screen
- locksmith
- locksmithing
- lockstep
- lock-step
- lock stitch
- lock, stock and barrel
- lock time
- lock-weir
- love-lock
- love lock
- mortise lock
- O-lock
- percussion lock
- permutation lock
- picklock
- picture lock
- rebounding lock
- rim lock
- ring-lock
- safety lock
- scalp lock
- seat lock
- side-lock
- spring lock
- stasis lock
- stock lock
- tick a lock
- tidal lock
- triple-lock
- triple lock
- under lock and key
- vapor lock
- vapour lock
- wagon lock
- wheel lock
Descendants
Translations
something used for fastening
|
a mutex or other token
segment of a canal
|
firing mechanism of a gun
|
complete control
|
a player in the second row of the scrum in Rugby
|
Verb
lock (third-person singular simple present locks, present participle locking, simple past locked, past participle locked or (obsolete) locken)
- (intransitive) To become fastened in place.
- If you put the brakes on too hard, the wheels will lock.
- 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
- We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.
- (transitive) To fasten with a lock.
- Remember to lock the door when you leave.
- (intransitive) To be capable of becoming fastened in place.
- This door locks with a key.
- (transitive) To intertwine or dovetail.
- with his hands locked behind his back
- We locked arms and stepped out into the night.
- (intransitive, break dancing) To freeze one's body or a part thereof in place.
- a pop and lock routine
- To furnish (a canal) with locks.
- To raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
- To seize (e.g. the sword arm of an antagonist) by turning one's left arm around it, to disarm them.
- (Internet, transitive) To modify (a thread) so that users cannot make new posts in it.
- (Internet, wiki jargon, transitive) To prevent a page from being edited by other users.
- Frequently-vandalized pages are generally locked to prevent further damage.
- (intransitive, rugby) To play in the position of lock.
- 1980, Ken Berry, chapter 14, in First Offender, Auckland: Collins, page 117:
- Please don't disappoint me - you are female, aren't you? I have a lingering suspicion that you are 17 stone and lock for Tarankai.
Antonyms
- (antonym(s) of “to fasten with a lock; to be capable of becoming fastened in place”): unlock
Derived terms
- antilock, anti-lock
- belock
- box and lock
- core locked
- double-lock
- land-locked salmon
- lip-locked
- lockability
- lockable
- lock and load
- lock away
- lock down
- locked fault
- locked groove
- locked-in syndrome
- locked nucleic acid
- locked rotor amp
- lock eyes
- lock horns
- lock in, lock-in
- lock into
- lock lips
- lock off
- lock on
- lock out, lock-out, lockout
- lock the stable door after the horse has been stolen
- lock the stable door after the horse has bolted
- lock through
- lock under
- lock up, lock-up, lockup
- mode-locked
- phase-locked loop
- relock
- sea-locked
- self-locking
- thread-locking fluid
- tidally locked
- unlock
- unlockability
- unlockable
- wood-locked
Translations
to become fastened in place
|
to fasten with a lock
|
to be capable of becoming fastened in place
to intertwine or dovetail
break dancing: to freeze one's body or a part thereof in place
|
to furnish with locks
to raise or lower (a boat) in a lock
Etymology 2
From Middle English lok, lokke, from Old English locc (“hair of the head, hair, lock of hair, curl, ringlet”), from Proto-West Germanic *lokk, from Proto-Germanic *lukkaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lugnó-, from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (“to bend”).
Cognate with West Frisian lok, lokke, Dutch lok (“earlock, curl”), German Locke (“lock of hair, curl”), Danish lok, Swedish lock (“lock of hair, curl”). It has been theorised that the word may be related to the Gothic verb *𐌻𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌽 (*lukan, “to shut”) in its ancient meaning "to curb".
Noun
lock (plural locks)
- A tuft or length of hair, wool, etc.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 164:
- 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC:
- If I consent to burn them, will you promise faithfully neither to send nor receive a letter again, nor a book (for I perceive you have sent him books), nor locks of hair, nor rings, nor playthings?
- A small quantity of straw etc.
- (Scots law, historical) A quantity of meal, the perquisite of a mill-servant.
Derived terms
Translations
length of hair
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Anagrams
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Verb
lock
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