English
lock
see also: Lock
Pronunciation Etymology 1

From Middle English lok, from Old English loc, from Proto-West Germanic *lok, from Proto-Germanic *luką from Proto-Indo-European *lewg-.

Noun

lock (plural locks)

  1. 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.
  2. (computing, by extension) A mutex or other token restricting access to a resource.
  3. 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.
  4. (gun mechanisms) 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Something sure to be a success.
    • 2004, Avery Corman, A perfect divorce:
      Brian thinks she's a lock to get a scholarship somewhere.
  7. (gambling) Synonym of Dutch book
  8. (rugby) A player in the scrum behind the front row, usually the tallest members of the team.
  9. 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.
  10. 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
  11. A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
  12. 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
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • French: es
Verb

lock (locks, present participle locking; simple past and past participle locked)

  1. (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.
  2. (transitive) To fasten with a lock.
    Remember to lock the door when you leave.
  3. (intransitive) To be capable of becoming fastened in place.
    This door locks with a key.
  4. (transitive) To intertwine or dovetail.
    with his hands locked behind his back
    We locked arms and stepped out into the night.
  5. (intransitive, break dancing) To freeze one's body or a part thereof in place.
    a pop and lock routine
  6. To furnish (a canal) with locks.
  7. To raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
  8. To seize (e.g. the sword arm of an antagonist) by turning one's left arm around it, to disarm them.
  9. (Internet, transitive) To modify (a thread) so that users cannot make new posts in it.
  10. (Internet, wiki, transitive) To prevent a page from being edited by other users.
    Frequently-vandalized pages are generally locked to prevent further damage.
  11. (intransitive, rugby) To play in the position of lock.
Antonyms
  • (antonym(s) of “to fasten with a lock; to be capable of becoming fastened in place”): unlock
Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: restare immobile, congelarsi, bloccarsi, restare impalato
Translations
  • Italian: munire di chiuse
Etymology 2

From Middle English lok, lokke, from Old English locc, from Proto-West Germanic *lokk, from Proto-Germanic *lukkaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lugnó-, from Proto-Indo-European *lewg-.

Cognate with Western Frisian lok, lokke, Dutch lok, German Locke, Danish lok, Swedish lock. It has been theorised that the word may be related to the Gothic - verb *𐌻𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌽 in its ancient meaning "to curb".

Noun

lock (plural locks)

  1. 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 ↗:
      Baſſ. […] Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth,
      For the foure windes blow in from euery coaſt
      Renowned ſutors, and her ſunny locks
      Hang on her temples like a golden fleece,
      Which makes her ſeat of Belmont Cholchos-'| ſtrond,
      And many Iaſons come in queſt of her.
    • 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?
  2. A small quantity of straw etc.
  3. (Scots law, historical) A quantity of meal, the perquisite of a mill-servant.
Translations
Lock
Etymology

There are three possibilities:

  • From the words Old English loc.
  • From Middle English loke, itself from loca or *Loca (theonym of the latter).
  • From Middle English locke, from locc.
Proper noun
  1. Surname.
  2. An unincorporated community in Knox County, and.
  3. A town in Elliston, Eyre Peninsula; from the surname.


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