gavelock

English

Etymology

From Middle English gavelock, from Old English gafeluc (“spear, javelin”), from gafol (“fork”) + -uc (diminutive suffix). Compare Old Norse gaflak, Icelandic gaflok, Old French gavelot, glavelot, French javelot, Irish gabhal (“fork”), Welsh gaflach (“fork, dart”), English glave, gaff.

Noun

gavelock (plural gavelocks)

  1. (rare, obsolete) A spear or dart.
  2. (Britain, Scotland, dialectal) An iron crow or lever.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for gavelock in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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