(~s, ~ing, ~ed)
Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English.
1.
When you ~ something such as a door, drawer, or case, you fasten it, usually with a key, so that other people cannot open it.
Are you sure you ~ed the front door?...
Wolfgang moved along the corridor towards the ~ed door at the end.
VERB: V n, V-ed
2.
The ~ on something such as a door or a drawer is the device which is used to keep it shut and prevent other people from opening it. Locks are opened with a key.
At that moment he heard Gill’s key turning in the ~ of the door...
An intruder forced open a ~ on French windows at the house.
N-COUNT
3.
If you ~ something or someone in a place, room, or container, you put them there and fasten the ~.
Her maid ~ed the case in the safe...
They beat them up and ~ed them in a cell.
VERB: V n in/into n, V n in/into n
4.
If you ~ something in a particular position or if it ~ there, it is held or fitted firmly in that position.
He leaned back in the swivel chair and ~ed his fingers behind his head...
There was a whine of hydraulics as the undercarriage ~ed into position.
VERB: V n prep/adv, V prep/adv
5.
On a canal or river, a ~ is a place where walls have been built with gates at each end so that boats can move to a higher or lower section of the canal or river, by gradually changing the water level inside the gates.
N-COUNT
6.
A ~ of hair is a small bunch of hairs on your head that grow together and curl or curve in the same direction.
She brushed a ~ of hair off his forehead.
N-COUNT: usu N of n
7.
~, stock, and barrel: see barrel