Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lock \Lock\, n. [AS. loc inclosure, an inclosed place, the fastening of a door, fr. l[=u]can to lock, fasten; akin to OS. l[=u]kan (in comp.), D. luiken, OHG. l[=u]hhan, Icel. l[=u]ka, Goth. l[=u]kan (in comp.); cf. Skr. ruj to break. Cf. Locket.]
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.
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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. A place from which egress is prevented, as by a lock.
--Dryden.The barrier or works which confine the water of a stream or canal.
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.
That part or apparatus of a firearm by which the charge is exploded; as, a matchlock, flintlock, percussion lock, etc.
A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
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A grapple in wrestling.
--Milton.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.
Mortise \Mor"tise\, n. [F. mortaise; cf. Sp. mortaja, Ar. murtazz fixed, or W. mortais, Ir. mortis, moirtis, Gael. moirteis.] 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.
Wikipedia
A mortise lock (mortice lock in British English) is a lock that requires a pocket—the mortise—to be cut into the door or piece of furniture into which the lock is to be fitted. In most parts of the world, mortise locks are found on older buildings constructed before the advent of bored cylindrical locks, but they have recently become more common in commercial and upmarket residential construction in the United States. They are widely used in domestic properties of all ages in Europe.
Usage examples of "mortise lock".
Closing the front door after him, he would have turned the key fully in the mortise lock, satisfied his alarm was now set and activated.
He took a last proud look at his new apartment before double-locking the front door and then turning the mortise lock as well.
Grave Digger looked at the Yale lock above the old-fashioned mortise lock.
Presently he confirmed that UN diplomatic luggage was no more immune to a pick gun than any other eight-barrel mortise lock with a keyed-frequency resonance handshake and a misplaced faith in long prime numbers.
She seemed to press a key into a lock and then turn it with a difficult double motion of her small hand--exactly the sequence of wrist movements, according to the experts, that would release a spring-loaded mortise lock.