padlock

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a removable lock with a curved or sliding shackle that passes through a fastening

   She secured the shed door with a heavy steel padlock.

2. 2
   verb

   to fasten or secure something with a padlock

   The caretaker padlocked the gates after the last visitor left.

From Middle English padlok. Lock is clear, but the first element is uncertain; proposals connect it with a dialect word for a gate or pannier. The modern form has been established for centuries and does not derive from the later sense of pad as a cushion.

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