[f. LATCH sb.1] trans. To fasten or secure with a latch. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 604/1. I latche a doore, I shytte it by the latche.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., lvii. 89. The very locke and key, That lacheth and lockth vs all, from quiet stey.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., May, 291. He popt him in, and his basket did latch.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., IV. xv. He latched the garden-gate.
1882. J. Hawthorne, Fort. Fool, I. xxxi. The street door was to be latched, but not bolted.
b. slang. (See quot.)
1725. New Cant. Dict., Latch, let in.
1728. [De Foe], Street-Robberies Consider’d, 33. Latch, let in.
