lock
/lɑk/ verb C2- To become fastened in place. · If you put the brakes on too hard, the wheels will lock.
- To fasten with a lock. · Remember to lock the door when you leave.
- To be capable of becoming fastened in place. · This door locks with a key.
- To intertwine or dovetail. · with his hands locked behind his back· We locked arms and stepped out into the night.
- To freeze one's body or a part thereof in place. · a pop and lock routine
- To furnish (a canal) with locks.
- To raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
- To seize (e.g. the sword arm of an antagonist) by turning one's left arm around it, to disarm them.
He/she/it locks · Past locked · Past participle locked · -ing form locking
Verb forms
- Base form
- lock
- He/she/it
- locks
- Past
- locked
- Past participle
- locked
- -ing form
- locking
Phrasal verbs and expressions
- lock away To lock up; to lock in a safe place, out of view.
- lock down To secure (something).
- lock in Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: To secure ...
- lock into To firmly commit to (something or someone).
- lock off To stop talking to (someone); to cut (someone) out; to gh...
- lock on To begin tracking a target via an automated system.
- lock out To inadvertently prevent (a person, particularly oneself)...
- lock through To travel through a lock, or a flight of locks, on a wate...
- lock up To imprison or incarcerate (someone).
From the library
At last, about ten o’clock, and just as Dantès began to despair, steps were heard in the corridor, a key turned in the lock, the bolts creaked, the massy oaken door flew open, and a flood of light from two torches pervaded the apartment.
“By the Broken Lock that freed me,” said Bagheera, when twilight had fallen, “thou art no slow goer!”
Why, sir, we have the man under lock and key.”
He examined the lock of the safe, the door of the room, and finally the iron shutters of the window.
Other matches
Learn lock in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.