lock, stock, and barrel: see barrel. Mechanical or electronic device for securing a door or receptacle so that it cannot be opened except by a key or a code. The lock originated in the Middle East; the oldest known example was found near Nineveh. Possibly 4,000 years old, it is of the pin tumbler type, otherwise known as an Egyptian lock. The Romans were the first to use metal locks and to make small keys for them. They also invented wards, projections in the keyhole that prevent a key from turning unless it has slots that avoid the projections. Probably the most familiar lock today is the cylinder lock, a pin tumbler lock opened by a flat key with a serrated edge; the serrations raise pins in the cylinder to the proper heights, allowing the cylinder to turn. Also common are the unit lock, housed within a rectangular notch cut into the edge of a door, and the mortise lock, housed in a mortise cut into the door edge, the lock mechanism being covered on both sides. Other types include lever and combination locks. Electronic locks that open with a magnetic card key are popular for banks, hotel rooms, and offices
To fasten in or out, or to make secure by means of, or as with, locks; to confine, or to shut in or out often with up; as, to lock one's self in a room; to lock up the prisoners; to lock up one's silver; to lock intruders out of the house; to lock money into a vault; to lock a child in one's arms; to lock a secret in one's breast
A lender's guarantee of an interest rate and related points for a set period of time, usually between loan application and loan closing Protects borrower against rate increases during that time
That part or apparatus of a firearm by which the charge is exploded; as, a matchlock, flintlock, percussion lock, etc
An option exercised by the borrower, at the time of the loan application or later, to "lock in" the rates and points prevailing in the market at that time The lender and borrower are committed to those terms, regardless of what happens between that point and the closing date
{f} fasten shut with a lock; confine by means of a lock; make immovable, fix in place; intertwine, link firmly together; move through a lock or locks (of a vessel); be fastened shut; become immobile; be held in place
become rigid or immoveable; "The therapist noticed that the patient's knees tended to lock in this exercise"