padlock
UK /ˈpæ̞dˌlɒk/ · US /ˈpædˌlɑk/ noun, verb
Forms padlocks padlocking padlocked
- noun A detachable lock that can be used to secure something by means of a sliding or hinged shackle
- verb (transitive) To lock using a padlock.
Etymology
From earlier pad lock (19th c.); Middle English padlock, padlokke, from pad-, of unknown origin, + lok (“lock”). Perhaps originally a lock for a pad (“gate”), or a gate opening to a path, or a lock for a basket or pannier, from UK dialect pad (“a pannier”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A portable lock with a bow which is usually jointed or pivoted at one end so that it can be opened, the other end being fastened by the bolt, --used for fastening by passing the bow through a staple over a hasp or through the links of a chain, etc.
- noun Fig.: A curb; a restraint.
- verb To fasten with, or as with, a padlock; to stop; to shut; to confine as by a padlock. Milton. Tennyson.
Etymology [Perh. orig., a lock for a pad gate, or a gate opening to a path, or perh., a lock for a basket or pannier, and from Prov. E. pad a pannier. Cf. Pad a path, Paddler.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “padlock”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details