lock

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Definitions (118)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (34)

  1. noun A device operated by a key, combination, or keycard and used, as on a door, for holding, closing, or securing.
  2. noun A section of a waterway, such as a canal, closed off with gates, in which vessels in transit are raised or lowered by raising or lowering the water level of that section.
  3. noun A mechanism in a firearm for exploding the charge.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (65)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

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Examples (50)

  • This lock was also broken, but he might be able to hold out for a time. —  Triple Detente by Piers Anthony
  • The study door was locked, and this lock was a good one. —  A Monstrous Regiment of Women - Laurie R. King - Russell-Holmes 02
  • Chapter Nine The key weighed at least eight ounces, and the lock was ancient. —  BEWITCHING FAMILIAR
  • Beside the lock was a rack of filter masks; choosing one, Roman put it on, making sure the flexible seals fitted snugly around nose and cheeks and jaw. —  Warhorse
  • Locked. He decided the lock was an ordinary apartment variety and could, if he was lucky, be smashed. —  156 - Se-Pah-Poo
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

bolt ·  pin ·  ring ·  frame ·  hair ·  panel ·  switch ·  wire ·  metal ·  key ·  bar ·  assembly

Used in the same contextWord Family

lock:   locking ·  locks ·  locked
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English, from Old English loc, bolt, bar.
  2. Middle English, from Old English locc.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English lok (plural lokkes), from Anglo-Saxon loc, a bolt, bar, fastening, inclosure, fold, close, ending. = OFries. lok = Middle Low German lok = Old High German loh, Middle High German loch, an inclosure, prison, dungeon, concealed place, hole, aperture, German loch, a dungeon, a hole, aperture, = Icelandic lok, a cover, lid, a locker, an end, conclusion, = Swedish lock = Danish laag, a lid, = Gothic (Moesogothic) *luk, in comp. usluk, an opening; cf. Middle English loke, from Anglo-Saxon loca, masculine, a bolt, bar, inclosure, = Old Dutch loke = Icelandic loka, a lock, latch, fastening; from the orig. strong verb, Anglo-Saxon lūcan (past participle locen), etc., close, lock: see lock, v.
  2. Middle English locken, lokken (= Icelandic loka, also lykja = Swedish lycka = Danish lukke), lock; a secondary form, after the noun lock, taking the place, in modern English, of the orig. strong verb remaining in the English dial, louk, from Middle English louken, lowken (preterit lec, plural luken, past participle loken), from Anglo-Saxon lūcan (preterit leác, plural lucon, past participle locen), shut, close, fasten (also in comp. a-lūcan, separate, belūcan, ge-lūcan, shut, fasten, onlūcan, unlūcan, unlock, tō-lūcan, unlock), = Old Saxon lūkan (in comp. bi-lūkan, lock, ant-lūkan, unlock) = OFries. lūka, luika, lōka = Dutch luiken = Old High German lūkhan, Middle High German lūchen = Icelandic lūka, shut, close, = Gothic (Moesogothic) *lūkan, in comp. ga-lūkan, close, shut up, us-lūkan, unlock. Hence lock, n., locket, etc.
  3. from Middle English lok (plural lockes, lokkes), from Anglo-Saxon locc (plural loccas), a lock of hair, = Old Saxon locka = OFries. lok = Dutch lok = Old High German loc (plural locchā), Middle High German loc (plural locke), German locke, a curl or ringlet, = Icelandic lokkr = Swedish lock = Danish lok (not recorded in Gothic (Moesogothic)), a lock of hair; orig. perhaps ‘a curl’: cf. Icelandic lykkr, a loop, bend, crook; Greek λύγος, a pliant twig, λυγοῦν, λυγίζειν, bend, twist, λυγηρός, flexible.
 

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/lɑk/
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