Meanings
- not comparableEntirely, completely.
They want to buy the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel.
2 more examples
I do not believe I should save £100 by retaining Mrs. Redford, by the time she was raised, altered, and beautified, for, like the Highlandman’s gun, she wants stock, lock, and barrel to put her into repair.
1817 October 29, Walter Scott, “To the same [Daniel Terry]”, in J[ohn] G[ibson] Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, published 1837, →OCLC, chapter III, page 59Supposing the whole Castro regime—lock, stock and barrel—were to be swept out by counter-revolutionaries as effectively as the Batista regime was cleared out[…]
1961 June, A. J. Knowles, “An Appraisal of the Cuban Revolution”, in Atlas, volume 1, number 4, page 41Synonyms: absolutely, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, stone-cold, blind, altogether, stark
- uncommonuncountableThe entirety of a thing, with nothing omitted.
"Sinbad not only gets the keys of the city, he gets the whole lock, stock and barrel!"
1945, George F. Foley Jr., Sinbad of the coast guard, page 852 more examples
Congress are in possession of the flint, powder, gun, lock, stock and barrel, and still we exclaim with the old lady, take away the musket.
1824 April 7, Balt[imore] Morn[ing] Chron[icle], “Standing Armies”, in The Adams Centinel, volume VIII, number 22, Gettysburg, Pa.: Robert Goodloe Harper, →OCLC, page [2], column 2Well, they are men cooks; they don't think of what importance a good cup of tea is to a lady. They don't remember that it is the lock, stock, and barrel of a lady's comforts.
1872, Charles Chapman, A Voyage from Southampton to Cape Town, in the Union Company's Mail Steamer, page 27Synonyms: all the marbles, bag and baggage, everytang, everything but the galley stove, everything but the kitchen sink, everything under the sun, full monty, hook
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbEntirely, completely.
nounThe entirety of a thing, with nothing omitted.
Origin
From the three principal parts of a flintlock. The explanation that it refers to all of a shopkeeper’s possessions—the lock to the door, the stock in trade and the items stored in barrels—is fanciful. First attested in an 1817 letter by the Scottish novelist Walter Scott (see quotation).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
German mit allem Drum und Dran, mit Sack und Pack
- mit allem Drum und Dranentirely
- mit Sack und Packentirely
- mit Kind und Kegelentirely
Hungarian tokkal-vonóval, cakompakk
- tokkal-vonóvalentirely
- cakompakkentirely
- mindenestülentirely
- szőröstül-bőröstülentirely
- komplettenentirely
Polish w całości
- w całościentirely
Cite this entry
lock, stock and barrel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lock%2C%20stock%20and%20barrel
“lock, stock and barrel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lock%2C%20stock%20and%20barrel. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lock, stock and barrel,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lock%2C%20stock%20and%20barrel.
Source: lock, stock and barrel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.