Mor·tise n.  A cavity cut into a piece of timber, or other material, to receive something (as the end of another piece) made to fit it, and called a tenon.
  Mortise and tenon Carp., made with a mortise and tenon; joined or united by means of a mortise and tenon; -- used adjectively.
  Mortise joint, a joint made by a mortise and tenon.
  Mortise lock. See under Lock.
  Mortise wheel, a cast-iron wheel, with wooden clogs inserted in mortises on its face or edge; -- also called mortise gear, and core gear.
  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.