Lock, n.
1. Anything that fastens; specifically, a fastening, as for a door, a lid, a trunk, a drawer, and the like, in which a bolt is moved by a key so as to hold or to release the thing fastened.
2. A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.
Albemarle Street closed by a lock of carriages. --De Quincey.
3. A place from which egress is prevented, as by a lock.
4. The barrier or works which confine the water of a stream or canal.
5. An inclosure in a canal with gates at each end, used in raising or lowering boats as they pass from one level to another; -- called also lift lock.
6. That part or apparatus of a firearm by which the charge is exploded; as, a matchlock, flintlock, percussion lock, etc.
7. A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
8. A grapple in wrestling.
Detector lock, a lock containing a contrivance for showing whether it as has been tampered with.
Lock bay Canals, the body of water in a lock chamber.
Lock chamber, the inclosed space between the gates of a canal lock.
Lock nut. See Check nut, under Check.
Lock plate, a plate to which the mechanism of a gunlock is attached.
Lock rail Arch., in ordinary paneled doors, the rail nearest the lock. Lock rand Masonry, a range of bond stone. --Knight.
Mortise lock, a door lock inserted in a mortise.
Rim lock, a lock fastened to the face of a door, thus differing from a mortise lock.
lock chamber
n : enclosure consisting of a section of canal that can be
closed to control the water level; used to raise or lower
vessels that pass through it [syn: lock]