lock Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a fastener fitted to a door or drawer to keep it firmly closed
  2. noun a strand or cluster of hair
    curl; ringlet; whorl.
  3. noun a mechanism that detonates the charge of a gun
  4. noun enclosure consisting of a section of canal that can be closed to control the water level; used to raise or lower vessels that pass through it
    lock chamber.
  5. noun a restraint incorporated into the ignition switch to prevent the use of a vehicle by persons who do not have the key
    ignition lock.
  6. noun any wrestling hold in which some part of the opponent's body is twisted or pressured
  7. verb fasten with a lock
    • lock the bike to the fence
  8. verb keep engaged
    engage; mesh; operate.
    • engaged the gears
  9. verb become rigid or immoveable
    • The therapist noticed that the patient's knees tended to lock in this exercise
  10. verb hold in a locking position
    interlace; interlock.
    • He locked his hands around her neck
  11. verb become engaged or intermeshed with one another
    interlock.
    • They were locked in embrace
  12. verb hold fast (in a certain state)
    • He was locked in a laughing fit
  13. verb place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape
    lock up; shut up; lock in; put away; shut away; lock away.
    • The parents locked her daughter up for the weekend
    • She locked her jewels in the safe
  14. verb pass by means through a lock in a waterway
  15. verb build locks in order to facilitate the navigation of vessels

WordNet

Lock noun
Etymology
AS. locc; akin to D. lok, G. locke, OHG. loc, Icel. lokkr, and perh. to Gr. to bend, twist.
Definitions
  1. A tuft of hair; a flock or small quantity of wool, hay, or other like substance; a tress or ringlet of hair.
    These gray locks, the pursuivants of death. Shak.
Lock noun
Etymology
AS. loc inclosure, an inclosed place, the fastening of a door, fr. l&umac;can to lock, fasten; akin to OS. l&umac;kan (in comp.), D. luiken, OHG. l&umac;hhan, Icel. lka, Goth. l&umac;kan (in comp.); cf. Skr. ruj to break. Cf. Locket.
Definitions
  1. Anything that fastens; specifically, a fastening, as for a door, a lid, a trunk, a drawer, and the like, in which a bolt is moved by a key so as to hold or to release the thing fastened.
  2. A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.
    Albemarle Street closed by a lock of carriages. De Quincey.
  3. A place from which egress is prevented, as by a lock. Dryden.
  4. The barrier or works which confine the water of a stream or canal.
  5. An inclosure in a canal with gates at each end, used in raising or lowering boats as they pass from one level to another; -- called also lift lock.
  6. That part or apparatus of a firearm by which the charge is exploded; as, a matchlock, flintlock, percussion lock, etc.
  7. A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
  8. A grapple in wrestling. Milton.
Lock transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Locked ; present participle & verbal noun Locking
Definitions
  1. To fasten with a lock, or as with a lock; to make fast; to prevent free movement of; as, to lock a door, a carriage wheel, a river, etc.
  2. To prevent ingress or access to, or exit from, by fastening the lock or locks of; -- often with up; as, to lock or lock up, a house, jail, room, trunk. etc.
  3. To fasten in or out, or to make secure by means of, or as with, locks; to confine, or to shut in or out -- often with up; as, to lock one's self in a room; to lock up the prisoners; to lock up one's silver; to lock intruders out of the house; to lock money into a vault; to lock a child in one's arms; to lock a secret in one's breast.
  4. To link together; to clasp closely; as, to lock arms. " Lock hand in hand." Shak.
  5. (Canals) To furnish with locks; also, to raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
  6. (Fencing) To seize, as the sword arm of an antagonist, by turning the left arm around it, to disarm him.
Lock intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To become fast, as by means of a lock or by interlacing; as, the door locks close.
    When it locked none might through it pass. Spenser.
    Boyle.

Webster 1913