American English pronunciation

How to pronounce lock

IPA transcription: ['lɑk]

Hear “lock” pronounced

['lɑk]

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['lɑk]

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['lɑk]

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Noun

  • a fastener fitted to a door or drawer to keep it firmly closed

  • a strand or cluster of hair

  • a mechanism that detonates the charge of a gun

  • 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

  • a restraint incorporated into the ignition switch to prevent the use of a vehicle by persons who do not have the key

  • any wrestling hold in which some part of the opponent's body is twisted or pressured

Verb

  • fasten with a lock

    “lock the bike to the fence”

  • keep engaged

    “engaged the gears”

  • place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape

    “The parents locked her daughter up for the weekend”

    “She locked her jewels in the safe”

  • become rigid or immoveable

    “The therapist noticed that the patient's knees tended to lock in this exercise”

  • hold in a locking position

    “He locked his hands around her neck”

  • become engaged or intermeshed with one another

    “They were locked in embrace”

  • hold fast (in a certain state)

    “He was locked in a laughing fit”

  • pass by means through a lock in a waterway

  • build locks in order to facilitate the navigation of vessels

Usage examples

  • I know why I want to get back to my flock, he thought.
  • I know why I want to get back to my flock, he thought.
  • Necessary reforms of the institution were blocked.
  • Nonetheless, Lockwood began to build a practice and won some cases.
  • Locke voted against ratification.
  • Cardinal Kopp even tried to block his ordination as Cardinal because of this.
  • The door was barred, locked, and bolted as well.
  • Using script blockers is generally a good idea, but it requires the user to learn a bit.
  • I know why I want to get back to my flock, he thought.
  • Her mom took her to the judo class at four o'clock.