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]