lock

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /lɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /lɑk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒk

A key lock. (a device requiring a key or a combination to be opened)

A lock (canal segment).

From Middle English lok, from Old English loc, from Proto-Germanic *luką. The verb is from Middle English locken, lokken, louken, from Old English lūcan, from Proto-Germanic *lūkaną. Doublet of luxe.

lock (plural locks)

1. Something used for fastening, which can only be opened with a key or combination.
   • 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island

     "Give me the key," said my mother; and though the lock was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 13, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.

2. (computing, by extension) A mutex or other token restricting access to a resource.
   • 2005, Karl Kopper, The Linux Enterprise Cluster

     […] the application must first acquire a lock on a file or a portion of a file before reading data and modifying it.

3. A segment of a canal or other waterway enclosed by gates, used for raising and lowering boats between levels.
   • 1846, William Makepeace Thackeray, Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo

     Here the canal came to a check, ending abruptly with a large lock.

4. (firearms) The firing mechanism.
   • 1837, Charles Dickens, The Pickwick Papers

     "I never saw such a gun in my life," replied poor Winkle, looking at the lock, as if that would do any good.

5. Complete control over a situation.
   • 2003, Charley Rosen, The Wizard of Odds

     Even though he had not yet done so, Jack felt he had a lock on the game.

6. Something sure to be a success.
   • 2004, Avery Corman, A perfect divorce

     Brian thinks she's a lock to get a scholarship somewhere.

7. (rugby) A player in the scrum behind the front row, usually the tallest members of the team.
   • 2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania”, in BBC Sport:

     Ashton only had to wait three minutes for his second try, lock Louis Deacon setting it up with a rollocking line-break, before Romania got on the scoreboard courtesy of a penalty from fly-half Marin Danut Dumbrava.

8. A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Thomas De Quincey

     Albemarle Street closed by a lock of carriages

9. A place from which egress is prevented, as by a lock.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)

10. A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
11. A grapple in wrestling.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

• lock time
• lock, stock and barrel

• Tok Pisin: lok
• → Hawaiian: laka

lock (third-person singular simple present locks, present participle locking, simple past locked, past participle locked or (obsolete) locken)

1. (intransitive) To become fastened in place.

   If you put the brakes on too hard, the wheels will lock.

   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 13, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.

2. (transitive) To fasten with a lock.

   Remember to lock the door when you leave.

3. (intransitive) To be capable of becoming fastened in place.

   This door locks with a key.

4. (transitive) To intertwine or dovetail.

   with his hands locked behind his back

   We locked arms and stepped out into the night.

5. (intransitive, break dancing) To freeze one's body or a part thereof in place.

   a pop and lock routine

6. To furnish (a canal) with locks.
7. To raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
8. To seize (e.g. the sword arm of an antagonist) by turning the left arm around it, to disarm him.
9. (Internet, transitive) To officially prevent other users from posting in (a thread).

• (to fasten with a lock; to be capable of becoming fasteneed in place): unlock

From Middle English lok, lokke, from Old English locc, from Proto-Germanic *lukkaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lugnó-, from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (“to bend”). Cognate with Old Norse lokkr (whence Danish lok), German Locke. It has been theorised that the word may be related to the Gothic verb *𐌻𐌿𐌺𐌰𐌽 (*lukan, “to shut”) in its ancient meaning to curb.

lock (plural locks)

1. A tuft or length of hair, wool etc.
   • c. 1596-97, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act I scene i:

     Bassanio:

     […] Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;

     For the four winds blow in from every coast

     Renowned suitors; and her sunny locks

     Hang on her temple like a golden fleece;

     Which makes her seat of Belmont Colchos's strand,

     And many Jasons come in quest of her. […]

   • 1845 October – 1846 June​, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: A Novel, volume XXI, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, publisher, […], published December 1847, OCLC 156123328:

     If I consent to burn them, will you promise faithfully neither to send nor receive a letter again, nor a book (for I perceive you have sent him books), nor locks of hair, nor rings, nor playthings?

2. A small quantity (of straw etc.)

• KLOC

lock

1. Imperative singular of locken.
2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of locken.

From Old Norse lok.

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lock c or n

1. (chiefly in the plural) a lock of hair
2. a cover, a lid
3. popping (as when ears pop)[1]

   Få lock för örat.

   Be deafened.

4. a (thin) board that covers the gap between panel boards
5. call, lure (uninflected, from the verb locka)

   med lock och pock

• Få lock för örat: be deafened. When you have bad hearing from the change in air pressure due to an air plane flight. So it’s sort of like having a casserole cover in your ear [2]

• grytlock
• hårlock

• lock in Svenska Akademiens ordlista över svenska språket (13th ed., online)