lock

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A device that keeps a door, box, or gate shut and is opened with a key or code.

   The lock was so stiff that the key would barely turn.

2. 2
   verb

   To fasten something with a lock.

   Don't forget to lock the door when you leave.

3. 3
   verb

   To shut a person or thing somewhere so they cannot leave or be taken.

   They locked the documents away in a safe.

4. 4
   verb

   To become fixed and unable to move.

   His knees seemed to lock during the exercise.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

The fastening lock and a lock of hair are both Old English words and may be related through an earlier root meaning "to bend," although the connection is uncertain. The river sense, recorded from Middle English, developed from the Old English idea of an enclosure associated with the fastening mechanism.

From Middle English lok, from Old English loc, from Proto-West Germanic *lok, from Proto-Germanic *luką from Proto-Indo-European *lewg- (“to bend; turn”). Cognate with Cimbrian loch, lòch (“hole”), Dutch lok (“hole”), German Loch (“hole”), German Low German Lock (“hole”), Luxembourgish Lach (“hole”), Vilamovian łöch (“hole”), Yiddish לאָך (lokh, “hole”), Danish låg (“lid, cover”), Norwegian Bokmål lokk (“lid, cover”), Norwegian Nynorsk lok, lokk (“lid, cover”). more detail The verb is from Middle English locken, lokken, louken, from Old English lūcan, Proto-West Germanic *lūkan, from Proto-Ger…

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