Pa. t. and pa. pple. locked. Forms: 4–6 lok(e, 4–5 lokke, 5 lokkyn, 4–6 locke, 5– lock. [f. LOCK sb.2; cf. ON. loka, similarly f. loka sb., lock, latch; also ON. lykja (Sw. lycka, Da. lukke.)
The older vb. with this meaning was LOUK, OE. lúcan; after the 14th c. this survived mainly in the pa. pple. loken, which was probably looked upon as belonging to lock vb.]
1. trans. To fasten (a door, gate, box, drawer, etc.) with a lock and key; occas. with † to, up. Hence (chiefly with up), to secure (a chamber, building, enclosure) by locking the doors.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17347. Þai … did to sper þe dors fast, Locked bath wit-vte and in.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, vii. (Jacobus Minor), 781. Þe Iowis … In til a cawe me closit faste, lokit, & celyt at þe laste.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 311/2. Lokkyn or schette wythe a lokke.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxxii. 215. The gates of the castel ben lokked with the lokkes that dame Isabel sent hidder.
1535. Coverdale, Judg. iii. 23. Ehud … put to ye dore after him, and lockte it.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., IV. iv. 73. Were not my doores lockt vp, and I shut out?
1600. in A. Bisset, Ess. Hist. Truth, v. 218. Maister Alexander locked to the study door behind him.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. xiii. 62. When going to sleep, he locks his dores.
1726. Adv. Capt. R. Boyle, 66. The Hour drawing near, they lock’d up the Doors of the House.
1819. Byron, Juan, I. clxxxvii. Juan … liking not the inside, lock’d the out.
1855. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., xiii. III. 250. The reformers locked up the church and departed with the keys.
1900. Mackenzie, Guide Inverness, 43. The Greyfriars Churchyard is kept locked.
fig. 1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 83 b. Yf the gate of ye mouth be not shutte with the dore of scylence, & locked with the key of discrecyon.
1713. Gay, Fan, III. 54. Death blasts his bloom, and locks his frozen eyes.
1859. FitzGerald, trans. Omar, vi. (1899), 71. And David’s Lips are lock’t.
1866. B. Taylor, Poems, Sorrowful Music, 37. This weight of grief Locks my lips.
1879. Browning, Halbert & Hob, 61. His lips were loose not locked.
Proverb. 1855. Bohn, Handbk. Proverbs, 445. Lock the stable door before the steed is stolen.
1885. Times (weekly ed.), 11 Sept., 3/1. This is done probably on the principle of locking the stable door after the horse has been stolen.
b. absol. To lock up: to lock up the house, lock the doors.
1901. ‘A. Hope,’ Tristram of Blent, xxvi. 356. ‘Is her ladyship still out, ma’am?’ he [the butler] asked…. ‘I was going to lock up.’… ‘Oh, go to bed,’ she cried … ‘We’ll lock up….’
c. intr. Of a door: To be locked; to admit of being locked.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. ix. 23. Doubly disparted, it did locke and close, That when it locked, none might thorough pas.
Mod. The door will not lock.
2. trans. To shut up or confine with a lock; to put under lock and key. Const. in, into, within. Also with advs. in, up.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 17661. In a hus we lokked þe.
13[?]. K. Alis., 3936. The kyng … bad him loke in prisoun.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 317. I trowe, thou woldest loke me in thy chiste.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 775. ‘To the chawmer, quhar he was vpon chance, Speid fast,’ he said, ‘Wallace is lokit in.’
a. 1550[?]. Freiris Berwik, 221, in Dunbar’s Poems (1893), 292. Lok vp all in to ȝone almery.
1590. Marlowe, Edw. II., II. ii. 54. The lovers of fair Danaë, When she was lock’d up in a brazen tower, Desir’d her more.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., III. ii. 42. Away then, I am lockt in one of them, If you doe loue me, you will finde me out.
1632. J. Hayward, trans. Biondi’s Eromena, 17. Some dayes before he had begunne to locke himselfe in his chamber.
1713. Swift, Frenzy J. Dennis, Wks. 1755, III. I. 144. We locked his friend into a closet.
1732. Pope, Hor. Sat., II. ii. 13. Your wine lock’d up, If then plain bread and milk will do the feat, The pleasure lies in you, and not the meat.
a. 1745. Swift, Direct. Servants, Butler, 33. Always lock up a Cat in a Closet where you keep your China Plates, for fear the Mice may steal in and break them.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, lxi. The little cell in which he was locked up for the night.
1891. Law Times Rep., LXIII. 690/2. The defendant … had given distinct orders to Nunney never to lock anyone up.
3. transf. a. To enclose, hem in, surround. Chiefly with in.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xxvi. 265. Alle faste y lokked and enclosed with highe Mountaynes.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 5495. He lockis in ane ser limy with a laith mey[n]he.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., p. lxii. The great winding of the River … locks in the Water that it cannot make that haste down to the Sea that it would.
1793. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 199. Lodged in a dovetail recess, wherein it was locked fast on three sides.
1833. Tennyson, Pal. Art, 249. A still salt pool, lock’d in with bars of sand.
1837. Lockhart, Scott, 19 July, an. 1821. He and … his companion, found themselves locked in the crowd, somewhere near Whitehall.
1837. Disraeli, Venetia, VI. i. So completely is the land locked with hills.
1851. Dixon, W. Penn, xxiii. (1872), 201. The vessel was locked in ice.
b. To keep securely or render inaccessible, as if in a locked receptacle. Chiefly with up.
1562. Winȝet, Cert. Tractates, iii. Wks. 1888, I. 27. Worthy to be lokit in the memorie of thaim quha [etc.].
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., IV. vi. 194. The seed of plants lockt up and capsulated in their husks.
1646. J. Hall, Horæ Vac., 92. Keepe your secrets fast lock’t up.
1652. Needham, trans. Selden’s Mare Cl., Ep. Ded. 2. A Jewel … lockt up in a Language unknown to the greatest part of that Nation.
1666. Rhode Island Col. Rec. (1857), II. 159. In the hardest winters when the Massachusetts and others … are fast locked up with strong doores of ice.
a. 1763. Shenstone, Ess. (1765), 40. Prudent men lock up their motives.
1779. Mad. D’Arblay, Diary, 26 May. As censorious a country lady as ever locked up all her ideas in a country town.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., II. 101. The seaports in Holland and Germany are every winter locked up with ice.
1807–8. Syd. Smith, Plymley’s Lett., Wks. 1859, II. 163/2. The very same wind … locks you up in the British Channel.
1838. Prescott, Ferd. & Is. (1846), I. viii. 376. Their [sc. Arabians’] literature … locked up in a character … so difficult of access to European scholars.
1855. Bain, Senses & Int., III. ii. § 26 (1864), 507. Sir Humphrey Davy suggested that metallic substances were locked up in soda, potash, and lime.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 222. Some colours … are perfectly permanent when ‘locked up’ (to use the painter’s phrase) in oil.
1879. Stainer, Music of Bible, 157. Their secrets remain for ever locked up.
c. Comm. and Finance. To lock up: To invest (capital) in something that is not easily convertible into money.
1692. Locke, Consid. Lower. Interest, 113. If one Third of the Money imploy’d in Trade were locked up,… must not the Land-holders receive 1/3 less for their Goods.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Briery Creek, iv. 73. The money he had locked up in land would never be productive while he remained its owner.
1848. Mill, Pol. Econ., I. v. § 9. (1876), 52. To set free a capital which would be otherwise locked up in a form useless for the support of labour.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., xi. (1876), 149. A banker cannot afford … to have his capital locked up in long advances.
d. Of sleep, stupefying agencies, enchantment: To hold fast, overpower completely. Also with up.
1725. Pope, Odyss., X. 77. Me, lock’d in sleep, my faithless crew bereft Of all the blessings of your god-like gift!
1789. Charlotte Smith, Ethelinde (1814), V. 258. He endeavoured to awaken her from the heavy shock which seemed to have locked up her senses.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. xvi. 119. Went to bed, where I lay fast locked in sleep for eight hours.
1873. W. Bruer, Serm. & Commun. Addr., 199. His mind may be locked up in insensibility.
1879. Geo. Eliot, Coll. Breakf. P., 834. That border-world Of dozing ere the sense is fully locked.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, Nov. xxvi. ‘Art thou the woman of the earth,’ she said, ‘That hast in sorceries mine Eros lockt?’
4. To shut off with or as with a lock from (a person); to preclude or prevent from (something) by or as by locking. Also with up.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., IV. iii. 80. When Marcus Brutus growes so Covetous, To locke such Rascall Counters from his Friends. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., IV. iv. 2. To locke it [sc. life] From Action and Adventure.
1613. Middleton, Tri. Truth, Wks. (Bullen), VII. 243. He locks his ear from those sweet charms.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2378/4. Lost…, a brown bay Filly,… being locked from taking Horse.
1700. Congreve, Way of World, IV. v. Do you lock your self up from me, to make my search more Curious?
1735. Pope, Prol. Sat., 19. Is there, who, lock’d from ink and paper, scrawls With desp’rate charcoal round his darken’d walls?
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IX. 285. Angels cannot guess The period; from created beings lock’d in darkness.
1785. J. Phillips, Treat. Inland Navig., vi. Large tracts of country are locked up from commerce.
5. Lock out. a. To turn (a person) out, and lock the door against him. † Also, to lock forth. b. To prevent the entrance of (persons) by locking the door; hence, (of an employer) to refuse employment to (a body of operatives) as a means of coercion. (Cf. LOCK-OUT sb.)
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., IV. i. 18. For locking me out of my doores by day. Ibid., IV. iv. 98. Say wherefore didst thou locke me forth to day? Ibid. (1592), Rom. & Jul., I. i. 145. Shuts vp his windows, lockes faire day-light out.
1842. F. E. Paget, Milford Malvoisin, 53. When I was being locked out of yonder church.
1861. Dutton Cook, Paul Foster’s Daughter, i. I am locked out.
1868. Rogers, Pol. Econ., ix. (1876), 89. Large funds are subscribed, out of which labourers on strike or locked-out are supported.
6. To fasten, make or set fast, fix; techn. to fasten or engage (one part of a machine) to another; also in passive, (of a joint) to be rendered rigid. To lock up a form (Printing): to fix the types or pages in a metal frame so as to prepare them for press, etc.
1670–98. Lassels, Voy. Italy, II. 106. I saw the great chair which locketh fast any man that sitteth down in it.
1674. N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., Contents. The world no heap, but a set of Bodies lockt fast together.
1683. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., Printing, viii. The Office of these Quoyns are to Lock up the Form, viz. to wedge it up … close together.
1816. Mechanic, I. 370. This scape-wheel is locked on its extreme point, and unlocks in an easy manner. Ibid., 411. The wheels are locked, without spring-work, perfectly safe from getting out of order.
1824. J. Johnson, Typogr., II. xiv. 495. It is the business of the person who locks-up the form, to ascertain whether all the pages are of an equal length.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 38. A locking clutch is fitted upon the spindle between these two wheels, and can … be made to lock either one of the wheels to the spindle, at the same time that it leaves the other disengaged.
1841. Lane, Arab. Nts., I. 80. His teeth were locked together.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 142. Every attempt at movement … locking the limb in a tetanoid spasm.
b. To put a lock on the foot of (a horse); to fasten (a wheel) so as to keep it from turning. Cf. LOCK sb.2 3, 4.
1694. Lond. Gaz., No. 3011/4. An Iron grey Colt … Lockt on the further Foot before.
1825. Cobbett, Rur. Rides, 19. The descent so steep as to require the wheel of the chaise to be locked.
1884. J. G. Bourke, Snake Dance Moquis, i. 8. The driver got out, locked the wheels, and walked.
c. intr. for refl. Of mechanism, a joint (e.g., the knee-joint): To become fixed or set fast. † Of an animal’s flanks: To draw together, shrink.
1658. R. White, trans. Digby’s Powd. Symp. (1660), 124. The dog … not being able to take any nourishment, his flanks do lock up.
1869. W. Blades, Bks. in Chains (1892), 219. Our artist … has put quoins at the head and foot too, making the pages lock up all round the chase—truly a mechanical puzzle.
1901. Westm. Gaz., 1 Oct., 5/2. The accident was due to the rudder locking.
1902. Brit. Med. Jrnl., 12 April, 879. When he attempted to bend the knee it locked.
7. To fix or join firmly by interlacing or fitting of parts into each other. Also with together, up.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 228. And when from thence he struggles to be gone, She locks her lillie fingers one in one. Ibid. (1598), Merry W., V. v. 81. Pray you, lock hand in hand.
1608. Yorksh. Trag., I. ii. Not as a man repentant, but half mad He sits and sullenly locks up his arms.
1720. De Foe, Capt. Singleton, xi. (1810), 187. The Portuguese … ran their bowsprit into the fore part of our main shrouds,… and so we lay locked after that manner.
1725. Pope, Odyss., IX. 512. In his deep fleece, my grasping hands I lock.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), I. 159. The Columns were incorporated with, and lock’d into each other.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), IV. 1461. It was required, that … we should … have our hands locked together.
1859. Tennyson, Vivien, 288. Merlin lock’d his hand in hers.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Lock, to entangle the lower yards when tacking.
1893. McCarthy, Red Diamonds, III. 233. Granton … locked his right leg round Bland’s leg in an attempt to throw him.
b. intr. for refl. To interlock, intertwine.
1688. Clayton, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 791. The Heads of the Branches of the Rivers interfere and lock one within another.
1806. Gazetteer Scot. (ed. 2), 94. The stones are … made to lock into one another with grooves and projections.
1858. Merc. Marine Mag., V. 227. Until … you observe the North and Inner South Heads locking.
c. Fencing. † (a) = ENGAGE v. 17 (obs.). (b) (see quot. 1782).
1579. Gosson, Sch. Abuse (Arb.), 46. Teaching the people howe to warde, and how to locke, howe to thrust, and how to strike.
1592. Arden of Feversham, H 2 b. When he should haue lockt with both his hilts He in a brauery florisht ouer his head.
1782. Rees, Chambers’ Cycl., To Lock, in Fencing, is to seize your adversary’s sword-arm, by turning your left arm round it, after closing your parade, shell to shell, in order to disarm him. (So in mod. Dicts.)
d. To lock horns: (of cattle) to entangle the horns mutually in fighting. Hence fig. U.S., to engage in combat with (some one).
1865. Swinburne, Atalanta, 942. Then shall the heifer and her mate lock horns.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. III. lxx. 562, note. The Boss of Tammany, with whom Mr. Cleveland had at an earlier period in his career ‘locked horns.’
1901. U.S. Corresp., in Academy, 25 March, 240/2. We should hardly feel warranted in locking horns with Tammany Hall.
e. To embrace closely; also, to grapple in combat. Now only passive. lit. and fig.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., V. ii. 83. Shee … locks her in embracing, as if shee would pin her to her heart.
1646. Evance, Noble Ord., 15. The Devill thought to have lockt Job upon that hip.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxxii. Catharine … was locked in the arms of Louise.
1854. M. Arnold, Switzerland, Farew., 11. Lock’d in each other’s arms we stood.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 252. Before the two armies became locked in the deadly combat now to be related.
1893. Traill, Social Eng., Introd. 35. The birth and early years of the nineteenth century found our country still locked in the death-grapple with Napoleon.
8. Mil. (See quot. 1802.) absol. and passive.
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict., To Lock up, to take the closest possible order in line or in file. The expression is derived from the lock-step.
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 264. He is to take care that … the rear ranks … are well locked up.
1847. Infantry Man. (1854), 56. He will see that the rear rank locks well up.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 11. In loading what precautions are necessary? To lock close up with the front rank to prevent accident.
9. Printing. (See quot.)
1820. Scott, Prose Wks., IV. Biographies, II. (1870), 325. A leaf in the former [sc. a copy of Caxton’s Book of Troy] was what is technically called locked. [Footnote] Such is the phrase when, by an error at press, the reverse has been printed on the side of the leaf which should have presented the obverse, so that page 32 precedes 31.
10. intr. Of a vehicle: To admit of the fore-wheels’ passing askew under the body of the carriage. Said also of the wheel. (Cf. LOCK sb.2 15.)
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 328. To Lock, is a term used by Drivers in moving the fore wheels of a Waggon to and fro.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), To lock, among Drivers, to move the wheels of a Waggon to and fro.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., I. 33. A very useful improvement … is that of leaving the space sufficiently deep in the bed of the waggon for the fore wheels to lock round in the shortest curve.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 260. When locking, the carriage draws the lever b from its recess.
1873. Miss Broughton, Nancy, III. 148. The road is narrow, and the coach will not lock.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 174. The front wheel … has to lock or turn under the arch.
11. Engineering and Navigation. a. intr. To provide locks for the passage of vessels. b. Of a canal: To pass by a lock into. Also of the vessel: To pass down, in, or out through a lock. Of persons: To pass out through an air-lock. c. trans. To pass (a vessel) down, in, out or through by means of a lock. d. intr. To take a boat into a lock. e. trans. To furnish (a canal) with locks; to shut off (a portion of a river) by means of a lock.
a. 1769. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 245. This Council will … lock down to the sea shore there at their own expence.
b. 1795. J. Phillips, Hist. Inland Navig., Add. 168. The canal locks into the river at Beeston Meadow.
1840. Evid. Hull Docks Comm., 121. They will have to lock in and out again.
1857–8. Proc. Inst. Civ. Engin., XVII. 397. Two long levels of a canal locking from one into the other.
1897. Outing (U.S.), XXX. 364/2. There was less trouble in locking down at the various levels.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 41. Too rapid a reduction of the pressure in ‘locking out,’ that is in passing from the caisson through the lock or ante-chamber in which the pressure should be gradually reduced.
c. 1840. Evid. Hull Docks Comm., 121. The small vessels … would have to be locked in and out.
1857–8. Proc. Inst. Civ. Engin., XVII. 397. An up train [of boats], which had been locked through from the lower level.
1876. Stevenson, in Encycl. Brit., IV. 788/1. Vessels are locked down from the sea into the [North Holland] canal.
d. 1857. P. Colquhoun, Comp. Oarsman’s Guide, 18. Care must be taken in locking with a barge, to keep astern of her.
e. 1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 24 Nov., 2/1. The portion of the river thus diverted would then be locked off.
