lock

plural locks

1. Something used for fastening, which can only be opened with a key or combination.

   "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.

   1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC

   1 more example

   We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall to the door of 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.

   1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter XIII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC, pages 304–305

2. broadlycomputingA mutex or other token restricting access to a resource.

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

   2005, Karl Kopper, The Linux Enterprise Cluster

3. A segment of a canal or other navigable waterway enclosed by gates, used for raising and lowering boats between levels.

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

   1846, William Makepeace Thackeray, Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo

4. engineeringThe firing mechanism in a gun.

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

   1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter name)”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC

5. Complete control over a situation.

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

   2003, Charley Rosen, The Wizard of Odds

6. Something sure to be a success.

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

   2004, Avery Corman, A perfect divorce

7. gamblingSynonym of Dutch book.

   Synonyms: Dutch book

8. ball gamesA player in the scrum behind the front row, usually the tallest members of the team.

   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.

   2011 September 24, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania”, in BBC Sport

9. A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.

   [O]n may of his lecture days I have seen all Albemarle Street closed by a "lock" of carriages, filled with women of distinction, until the servants of the Institution or their own footmen advanced to the carriage-doors with the intelligence that Mr. Coleridge had been suddenly taken ill.

   1834 September–November; 1835 January, Thomas De Quincey, “Samuel Taylor Coleridge”, in Autobiographic Sketches: With Recollections of the Lakes (De Quincey’s Works; II), London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 207

10. A place impossible to get out of, as by a lock.

    Sergestus, eager with his beak to press / Betwixt the rival galley and the rock, / Shuts up the unwieldy Centaur in the lock

    1697, Virgil, “The Fifth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

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

    They must be also practis'd in all the Locks and Gripes of Wrestling

    [1644], [John Milton], Of Education. To Master Samuel Hartlib, [London]: […] [Thomas Underhill and/or Thomas Johnson], →OCLC

present singular third person locks · participle present locking · past locked · participle past locked · obsolete participle past locken

1. intransitiveTo become fastened in place.

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

2. transitiveTo fasten with a lock.

   Remember to lock the door when you leave.

   Antonyms: unlock

3. intransitiveTo be capable of becoming fastened in place.

   This door locks with a key.

   Antonyms: unlock

4. transitiveTo intertwine or dovetail.

   with his hands locked behind his back

   1 more example

   We locked arms and stepped out into the night.

   Synonyms: braid, lace, twine, betwine, braid, entwist, entwine, interlace

5. intransitivebreak dancingTo 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 one's left arm around it, to disarm them.
9. InternettransitiveTo modify (a thread) so that users cannot make new posts in it.
10. Internettransitivewiki jargonTo prevent a page from being edited by other users.

    Frequently-vandalized pages are generally locked to prevent further damage.

11. intransitiveball gamesTo play in the position of lock.

    Please don't disappoint me - you are female, aren't you? I have a lingering suspicion that you are 17 stone and lock for Tarankai.

    1980, Ken Berry, chapter 14, in First Offender, Auckland: Collins, page 117

plural locks

1. A tuft or length of hair, wool, etc.

   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?

   1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC

   1 more example

   Baſſ. […]Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth, For the foure windes blow in from euery coaſt Renowned ſutors, and her ſunny locks Hang on her temples like a golden fleece, Which makes her ſeat of Belmont Cholchos-'| ſtrond, And many Iaſons come in queſt of her.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 164

2. A small quantity of straw etc.
3. historicalScots lawA quantity of meal, the perquisite of a mill-servant.

plural locks

1. A single dreadlock.

present singular third person locks · participle present locking · participle past locked · past locked

1. To form a dreadlock.

1. A surname.
2. An unincorporated community in Knox County and Licking County, Ohio, United States.
3. A town in Elliston district council area, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia; from the surname.