interlock

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. v. To unite or join closely as by hooking or dovetailing.
2. v. To connect together (parts of a mechanism, for example) so that the individual parts affect each other in motion or operation.
3. v. To become united or joined closely, as by hooking or dovetailing.
4. n. A mechanical device that prevents a component from functioning when another component is functioning or situated in a particular way.
5. n. A stretchy fabric knitted with interlocking stitches by alternating sets of needles on a circular knitting machine.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. To be locked together; mutually engage, clasp, or cling: embrace: as, the interlocking boughs of a wood.
2. To lock or clasp together; lock or hitch one in another: as, cattle sometimes interlock their horns.
3. In geography, to be involved together: specifically applied to the headwaters of two different drainage systems which dovetail together yet flow in opposite courses.
4. To cross-lock or lock in combination; lock so that unlocking can be effected only under certain conditions, or after certain other motions have previously been made.

Wiktionary

1. v. To fit together securely.
2. v. To interlace.
3. n. A safety device that prevents activation in unsafe conditions.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. v. To unite, embrace, communicate with, or flow into, one another; to be connected in one system; to lock into one another; to interlace firmly.
2. v. To unite by locking or linking together; to secure in place by mutual fastening.
3. v. To connect together so that the parts work together as a coordinated unit; to connect as a single system.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a device that prevents an automotive engine from starting
2. v. become engaged or intermeshed with one another
3. n. the act of interlocking or meshing
4. v. hold in a locking position
5. v. coordinate in such a way that all parts work together effectively