Lock Definition

lŏk
locked, locking, locks
noun
locks
A mechanical device furnished with a bolt and usually a spring, for fastening a door, strongbox, etc. by means of a key or combination.
Webster's New World
Anything that fastens something else and prevents it from opening, turning, etc.
Webster's New World
A locking together; jam.
Webster's New World
An enclosed part of a canal, waterway, etc. equipped with gates so that the level of the water can be changed to raise or lower boats from one level to another.
Webster's New World
The mechanism of a firearm used to explode the ammunition charge; gunlock.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
verb
locked, locking, locks
To fasten (a door, trunk, etc.) by means of a lock.
Webster's New World
To be capable of being locked.
Webster's New World
To shut or make secure with or as if with locks.
Locked the house.
American Heritage
To keep from going in or out by or as by means of a lock; shut (up, in or out); confine.
Locked in jail.
Webster's New World
To fit closely; link; intertwine.
To lock arms.
Webster's New World
Antonyms:
pronoun

A surname​.

Wiktionary
suffix

(no longer productive) Action or proceeding, practice, ritual.

Wiktionary
idiom
lock horns
  • To become embroiled in conflict.
American Heritage
lock lips
  • To engage in a long kiss.
American Heritage
lock, stock, and barrel
  • To the greatest or most complete extent; wholly:

    an estate that was auctioned off lock, stock, and barrel.

American Heritage
under lock and key
  • Securely locked up.
American Heritage
have a lock on
  • to be sure of winning, gaining, or controlling

    the other party has a lock on that Senate seat

Webster's New World

Origin of Lock

  • The etymology of the suffix is the same as that of the noun lāc "play, sport", also "sacrifice, offering", corresponding to obsolete Modern English lake (dialectal laik) "sport, fun, glee, game", cognate to Gothic laiks "dance", Old Norse leikr "game, sport" and Old High German leih "play, song, melody" (> Old French lai "song, lyric, poem, lay"). Ultimately, the word descends from Proto-Germanic *laikaz. Old English līcian ("to please", Modern English like) is from the same root. In modern English, the noun has been reintroduced through the cognate Swedish lek as a specialist term referring to mating behaviour.

    From Wiktionary

  • Thus, the suffix originates as a second member in nominal compounds, and referred to "actions or proceedings, practice, ritual" identical with the noun lāc "play, sport, performance" (obsolete Modern English lake "fun, sport, glee", obsolete or dialectal Modern German Leich).

    From Wiktionary

  • From Middle English -lok, -lak, -lac, from Old English -lāc (suffix denoting activity or action), from Proto-Germanic *laiką (“play, sport, activity”), from Proto-Indo-European *leig-, *loig- (“to bounce, shake, make tremble”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old English loc bolt, bar

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • Middle English from Old English locc

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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