latch

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“
Then for the short period of the physical modification the latch is acquired, usually in EX mode for a modification, to prevent other threads from modifying the page.

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Definitions (32)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A fastening, as for a door or gate, typically consisting of a bar that fits into a notch or slot and is lifted from either side by a lever or string.
  2. noun A spring lock, as for a door, that is opened from the outside by a key.
  3. transitive verb To close or lock with or as if with a latch.
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Examples (50)

  • Dexter Olin locked the apartment door -- latch, deadbolt, and safety chain -- and replayed the tape for whose return Annalise's brother had lobbied. —  F ;SF; - vol 091 issue 04-05 - October-November 1996
  • Mother heard the door-latch, and fearing that father would kill, or be killed, spoke, as if not wishing them to hear, and said: “John have the pistols ready,” (it will be remembered that we had pistols in place of revolvers in those days) “and the moment they open the door shoot them.” This stratagem worked; they retired as still as possible. —  The Bark Covered House
  • There was no latch; instead he found a small button where the latch should be and pressed it. —  Shining Steel
  • The soft click of the latch was accompanied by a blaze of light. —  COPYRIGHT 1940, 1947, 1948
  • The door closed; the latch was affixed without visible agency. —  Autobiography of a Yogi
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Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English latche, from lacchen, to seize, from Old English læccan.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English latchen, lacchen (preterit lauhte, lauʒte, laʒte, also lacchide, past participle lauht, lagt, also latchid), from Anglo-Saxon læccan, læccean, gelæccan, seize, catch hold of. Cf. clutch, as supposed to be ult. from Anglo-Saxon gelæccan.
  2. from Middle English lacche, a latch, from lacchen, latch, catch: see latch, v.
  3. A variant of letch, leach, from Middle English *lecchen, from Anglo-Saxon leccan, moisten, wet: see leak, of which latch, letch, leach is ult. the causal form. Cf. Swedish laka, distil, fall by drops, laka på, pour on, as water on mash, = Danish lage, lay in brine. Hence latch-pan.
  4. from Middle English lache, leche, a pit, hole; perhaps an assibilated form of. lake, in similar sense: see lake.
 

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/lætʃ/
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