Lock

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bbeeton
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Lock

Postby bbeeton » Thu Jul 29, 2021 10:58 am

A lock for a door can be integral or separate (e.g., a padlock). To secure it, there's the verb "lock". The door in question can be "locked" or "unlocked".

In a canal, a lock is a segment that can be segregated from the main flow, allowing the water level to be raised or lowered, so that a vessel in the lock can get around an otherwise unnavigable stretch of the main waterway. Again a verb: "lock through". And an adjectival prefix: "lockmaster".

A snippet of hair, as in "The Rape of the Lock", a poem by Alexander Pope, or held as a keepsake in a locket. (No verb that I'm aware of.)

An intangible analogue of the first sense, as in "a lock on an account"; again a verb.

A type of firearm: "flintlock" or "percussion lock". In this regard, Slava has asked about "lock and load", q.v.

How might these be related?

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Slava
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Re: Lock

Postby Slava » Thu Jul 29, 2021 11:22 am

Don't forget headlock.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

bbeeton
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Re: Lock

Postby bbeeton » Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:36 pm

And lockjaw. And vapor lock. Locksmith should already be covered.
One locks up a forme for a printing press, and the hoosegow is a lockup.

Thank you, Slava, for jogging my memory.

David Myer
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Re: Lock

Postby David Myer » Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:29 am

And what about a lock-down - such as Australia is currently enjoying?

Or a lock-up that Nelson Mandela endured for 25 years?

Or a lock-out that British coal-miners have suffered in times gone by?

Or a lock-in that fixes a date in our diaries for a particular event?

Or a lock-away that keeps things safe for retrieval later?


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