I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a lock of hair (= a fairly thick piece of hair )
▪
She tossed a stray lock of hair back off her forehead.
air lock
be locked in a dispute (= be involved in one that is difficult to resolve )
▪
Workers and management are locked in a bitter dispute.
be locked in combat (= to be using all your effort and attention to fight each other )
▪
Their troops were locked in combat.
caps lock
central locking
combination lock
full lock
lock keeper
lock/padlock a gate (= close it with a key/a special lock )
▪
She locked the gate behind her.
lock/unlock the door
▪
I locked the door and turned out the lights.
mortise lock
put a key in a lock/the door
▪
I put the key in the lock, but it wouldn’t turn.
securely locked/fastened/attached/held etc
▪
All firearms should be kept securely locked in a cabinet.
the click of a latch/door/lock etc
▪
The click of the latch told me Michele was back.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
up
▪
So always lock up properly, even when you're staying in.
▪
He is preaching to the choir of religious-right Protestants and conservative Catholics whose votes should already be locked up .
▪
Kept me locked up all bleedin' night.
▪
The idea is to prevent what happened Tuesday: the nominations being locked up before California voters voiced their opinions.
▪
He was safely back, then, and locked up .
▪
I was just locking up when Henry came around the corner with Lila Sams.
▪
Nick Frazer was locking up the shop when she came along at one.
▪
With Dole having the nomination all but locked up , will voters in one or more states forsake him?
■ NOUN
bathroom
▪
Even so, I locked myself in the bathroom where I could read the story slowly and without fear of interruption.
▪
The young man who died mysteriously in a locked bathroom .
▪
They put pins in their chairs, threw their clothes out of the window and locked them in the bathroom .
▪
The ones on the outer door I can understand, but why lock up the bathroom ?
▪
I lock myself in the bathroom .
▪
Con: When you want privacy, you may be forced to lock yourself in the bathroom .
battle
▪
Last year, when his party was in opposition and locked in a leadership battle , 60% of its supporters voted No.
▪
Budapest Week is now locked in a circulation battle with the new weekly broadsheet, the Budapest Post.
▪
Lomb has been locked in a fierce battle with Johnson&038;.
▪
For more than a year now Mr Kohl has been locked in a battle to rescue his battered reputation for posterity.
bedroom
▪
Daniele will be locked in his bedroom watching the latest batch of video nasties.
▪
She has been coming straight home from work and locking herself in her bedroom .
▪
In two cases, the user was locked in a bedroom for days at a time.
▪
Shut my ears while they're going on at me, run upstairs, lock my bedroom door.
▪
She locked her bedroom door behind her.
▪
If not we may have to lock them in their bedrooms .
car
▪
When the terrified actress locked herself in the car , he rammed it with his Ford Bronco.
▪
Around 6 p. m., a woman knocked on the locked door, feigning car trouble and asking to use the phone.
▪
Quickly she locked up the car .
▪
Manion turned off the engine, picked up his stack of envelopes, and locked the car .
▪
Chief Insp Peter Harrison urged motorists to ensure their boots were locked when parking their cars .
▪
However, Inspector Morse's behaviour in not locking his car and in drinking heavily before driving is utterly disgraceful.
▪
I locked my car , crossed, and headed up the circular driveway.
combat
▪
Both are still locked in commercial combat over the lucrative contract to refit Britain's Trident submarine fleet.
▪
Doctors and hospitals, although locked in increasingly venomous combat with insurers, also are mostly opposed.
▪
Since then, the rebels and the armed forces of Sierra Leone have been locked in combat .
▪
In addition, employees are often locked into combat with each other for a shrinking supply of rewards, and even jobs.
▪
He was reminded of Sir Arnold and Jonathan Ram locked in their mental combat .
dispute
▪
Consultants are locked in a contract dispute with the Government that is likely to drag on until after the election.
▪
But lawmakers remain locked in a partisan dispute over what information House members will have before voting on disciplining the speaker.
door
▪
It was 10.30 ... I closed the door behind me and locked it.
▪
The door was locked behind them as soon as they stepped in.
▪
The street door was locked so I pressed the button numbered 11 on the squawk box built into the porch.
▪
The van doors were shut and locked , and it took off.
▪
He closed the door behind him and locked it, as was his habit.
▪
Esther made sure all four doors were locked and insisted we roll up the windows.
▪
He shut the door , locked it again.
▪
I make sure that my car doors are locked .
gate
▪
They locked the front gates of their Seoul home, my residence, and would not let me out.
▪
Instead, they just lock the gates .
▪
I see Phoenix running toward us and lock the gate .
▪
Only the locked gate and guardhouse bespeak anything more uncommon inside.
house
▪
They had packed and Adam had locked up the house .
▪
It's sunset when you leave, locking the quiet house securely behind you.
▪
Much more was locked up in that house than the storeroom at its core.
▪
We locked the house up but we thought we were going back.
▪
Now we're going to lock the house and nobody must go in again.
▪
Should he lock up the house ?
▪
The first time it happens is after she has been locked out of the house .
key
▪
Quickly, she picked up the key , locked the door, and ran upstairs to be alone in her room.
▪
He was firm, took my keys , locked my door, and drove me to the hospital.
night
▪
Kept me locked up all bleedin' night .
▪
One entered through an elephant-sized, brass-studded gate, which was locked at night .
▪
Once the door's been locked at night and the medicine's been round, you're not out until the morning.
▪
We then checked the other cells to see that all the prisoners were locked up for the night .
▪
However, he was not thrown out, he was taken back to the station and locked up for the night .
▪
Somebody must have forgotten to lock a window one night , and designers had managed to get in.
office
▪
Once he had forgotten to lock Mr Corcoran's office and had been harshly reprimanded.
▪
He had seldom been happier to lock up the office .
▪
He had been locked out of his office .
▪
I set my mug aside, unplugged the coffeepot, locked the office , and trotted down the back stairs.
▪
Holy-o kept Rowena and the candy money locked in his office until the fellas arrived.
▪
For people like him, we had to lock the office doors.
▪
I locked up the office and walked out of the student center into a thick fog.
place
▪
The restraining bar is bolted across our laps and the cage door is locked firmly in place .
▪
Replace lid, lock in place and bring to high pressure for 3 minutes.
▪
But in September Ninety Ninety two of these the pins hadn't been locked back into place .
▪
In some models, the wands are locked awkwardly in place .
▪
Unemployment has played a crucial role both in bringing the underclass into existence and to locking it in place .
▪
Problems Dear Problems: Put your stuff in a safe, locked place .
▪
I rattled the plastic cover over the Amstrad but it was firmly locked in place .
▪
The ramp would be lifted and locked in place , and the truck would pull away.
position
▪
It also returns to neutral after the wheels have reached the fully up or locked down position .
▪
Gary stops his chanting and looks at me, his eyes turned upwards from his locked position .
room
▪
The desk in the drawing room had not been locked .
▪
Lila had come out of her room , locking it after her.
▪
I went to my room and locked the door and ... I jumped into bed and pulled the duvet right over me.
▪
They put you in a room and lock the door.
▪
One night, after a violent row, Marion ran up to her room and locked the door.
▪
I remember they took me out of the shaving room and locked me in Seclusion.
▪
But she went to her room and locked the door.
▪
She had retired to her room , locked the door, and tried to sleep.
window
▪
The boys were burnt in their beds, and as they crushed against a locked door and barred windows .
▪
Julie was busily locking the doors and windows , sliding bolts and turning keys.
▪
Somebody must have forgotten to lock a window one night, and designers had managed to get in.
▪
Capitol police bolted and locked all the windows , in case a prowler was coming in after everyone had left: no luck.
▪
As soon as nightfall arrived, she found herself locking doors, shutting windows , and finding strange solace in being barred and bolted.
■ VERB
close
▪
Once more the trees began to close in, locking them into their own tiny world.
▪
I closed the door, locked up, and went to work.
▪
He then closed and locked the boxes.
▪
You've closed your heart and locked her inside it.
▪
I closed the door and locked it.
▪
They closed and locked behind you automatically.
▪
Dale's own bedroom door was closed and locked .
find
▪
But when he tried to get into the maternity wing he found the doors were locked .
▪
Once there, Andre finds the gate locked .
▪
And when they both come to Dunbar, chapping on this door, they will find it locked and barred.
▪
Customers stopping by to drink coffee and check on the markets screen found themselves locked out.
▪
There they had to wait some time until the Constable could find the key and lock the door on them.
▪
One of them was found locked and secure.
▪
Close to Christmas 1983 I arrived at the pub to find it locked and shuttered.
▪
Afterward, a number of people may well report that they found their knees were locked .
forget
▪
Once he had forgotten to lock Mr Corcoran's office and had been harshly reprimanded.
▪
Apparently, the Altar Guild had been in to arrange the flowers and had forgotten to lock the side door.
▪
I had forgotten to lock that.
▪
The place was burglarized because she raised the window to admire a sunset and forgot to lock it.
▪
Somebody must have forgotten to lock a window one night, and designers had managed to get in.
▪
Often Leanna forgot to lock the back door.
▪
I can only get in when he forgets to lock the door.
▪
You've never forgotten to lock up in your life.
keep
▪
Did you think you could, we could, keep her locked up here for ever?
▪
We mustn't keep it locked away in the closet lest it turn to dust.
▪
I tried to keep them locked , as I had seen Hilda do before she subsided into compliance.
▪
That one gram's credit will keep you locked in to your dealer.
▪
We keep the door locked because we get unwelcome guests.
▪
Any of the thoughts that hung around she kept locked up tight, even from herself.
▪
Well well well, now why do you reckon they keep the toothpaste locked up?
leave
▪
It's sunset when you leave , locking the quiet house securely behind you.
▪
In search of a bathroom, I leave Mike and Ann locked in their exchange and head toward the kitchen.
▪
In the early hours of the morning, Henry left the gathering and locked himself alone, inside a friends room.
▪
They left their Nissan Bluebird locked in a free car park after refusing to pay the 40p fee at one nearby.
▪
He left the office and locked that door too.
▪
With a deep sigh, I left the room and locked it behind me.
▪
The khthons had untied them and left a torch before locking the dungeon door.
▪
Ten minutes later he left the tower, locking the door after him.
remain
▪
Only a handful of nagging doubts remained , locked at the back of his mind and these soon seemed hazy and foolish.
▪
For years its front door remained locked .
▪
But lawmakers remain locked in a partisan dispute over what information House members will have before voting on disciplining the speaker.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be (caught/locked/stuck) in a time warp
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Lock the brakes before you take him out of the stroller.
▪
Lock the door when you leave.
▪
As she left the house she locked the door.
▪
Don't forget to lock the car.
▪
He locked the safe and put the key in his pocket.
▪
She was just chewing her dinner and her jaw locked.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
As I said it, I jumped back in the bathroom and locked the door.
▪
Once he had forgotten to lock Mr Corcoran's office and had been harshly reprimanded.
▪
She went over and tried one of the handles, but the cabinet was locked.
▪
That's what Lee had gone home to check, that Caspar was locked up.
▪
The colored aide and the blond one took me downstairs and let me on to our ward and locked the door behind me.
▪
Wu panicked and locked the door.
II. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
front
▪
If you have quick release wheels, take off the front wheel and lock it to the frame and back wheel.
▪
A quick bath and bed, she promised herself, sighing, as she stuck her key into the front door lock .
▪
For security a lock on the front locks both the system and the keyboard.
▪
Do you have an enclosed unlit porch that would give a housebreaker some cover while working on the front door lock ?
key
▪
The hollow sound of the key in the lock .
▪
Anyway, I put the key in the lock as quietly as I could and walked in.
▪
He then turned the key in the lock before starting his journey home.
▪
I closed the lid and turned the key in the lock .
▪
The turn of a key in the lock of the brown door stopped him in his tracks.
▪
At about 7 - Mum's key in the lock .
▪
He'd been so anxious to reach his father that he'd left the key in the lock .
▪
She was on her way downstairs for tea when she heard the noise of Stephen's key in the lock .
■ NOUN
air
▪
Through the air lock she went, down the metal steps, and out on to the Moon's dusty surface.
▪
Finally, they were let through an air lock guarded by massive metal doors into the reactor structure.
▪
Gripping a hand rail, she waited for the door of the air lock to open.
combination
▪
He laid it on the bed, turned the combination locks and lifted the lid.
▪
I took it down from the wall to reveal the circular door of a wall safe with a combination lock .
▪
Next to it was a steel security cupboard fitted with a combination lock .
▪
The case sported matching brass hardware, including a pair of clasps, each with its own three-number combination lock .
▪
Remember the analogy of the combination lock .
▪
The only thing holding me up would be fumbling at the combination lock or renting a towel.
▪
And a briefcase with one of those combination locks .
▪
I had twenty minutes to see what I could do about his combination locks .
door
▪
A quick bath and bed, she promised herself, sighing, as she stuck her key into the front door lock .
▪
Then I made great play of fiddling with the door lock before I emerged.
▪
But yesterday he found the would-be thieves had smashed the door lock in an attempt to break in.
▪
Do you have an enclosed unlit porch that would give a housebreaker some cover while working on the front door lock ?
▪
The little Renault already looked sculpted out of snow, and the key would not turn in the frozen door lock .
gate
▪
The jarrah timbers from the tracks were gradually used in the repair of lock gates .
▪
Leakage at the lock gates and sluices. 4.
▪
I took the dinghy as far as we could go, right up near to the lock gates .
▪
They are used mainly for inspection of foundations, assessing the condition of lock gates and checking the progress of repair work.
keeper
▪
This would seem to cover the action of the lock keepers in this case.
▪
John Cryer, the lock keeper , and Tom Mercer, the engine driver, are at the left of the picture.
mortise
▪
Fit a five-lever mortise lock to the back door, or supplement the existing lock with a mortise deadlock.
▪
It had a mortise lock , a simple keyhole and no key.
security
▪
Rooms are double glazed and have double security locks .
▪
No trace of any forcing of the two security locks .
▪
It was too complicated coping with a system of security locks for three doors.
window
▪
Security work will be carried out including footpath lighting, new fences and door and window locks .
▪
Provision of a stair guard, and secure door and window locks , are sensible precautions with children.
▪
Do you have either or both double-glazed windows and window locks ?
▪
The least expensive yet most effective security products on the market are key operated window locks .
■ VERB
break
▪
Its role in history is merely as the broken lock on Pandora's box.
▪
It was only a broken lock , after all, nothing more.
▪
I broke the lock and took it back to the shop in La Jolla.
▪
Many of them wanted to see an administration whose make-up visibly broke the supposed lock on political power of white males.
▪
But in their clumsy efforts to break the steering lock they had broken the steering itself.
change
▪
Apart from your loss of property, you then have the added problem of changing every lock in the house.
▪
Parasites invent new keys; hosts change the locks .
▪
Only a few go through the final humiliation of meeting the bailiff at the door and watching him change the locks .
▪
As my car and house keys were in the bag we had to change all the locks .
▪
She said when she got back from court they were trying to change the locks .
fit
▪
All windows should be fitted with locks .
▪
As soon as one type of white cell meets the antigen that fits its locks , it begins multiplying.
▪
Make sure that yours are fitted with all possible locks and are constructed of unbreakable glass.
▪
Keys found on the person of Janet Iverson included one fitting the lock on the door to the alley.
▪
She rummaged in her handbag for the key on its wooden key ring and tried to fit it into the lock .
▪
The same key fits several locks , in other words.
▪
This endorsement should not be applied where the policyholder has fitted the locks without us insisting on them.
▪
Before she could fit it in the lock the door opened.
force
▪
I had to force the lock , Francis.
open
▪
Pic 4 shows an example of a lever lock key in bronze with a simple bit to open the lock.
▪
Fenn rummaged in his pocket for the keys that would open the three locks .
pick
▪
But you took time to pick the locks .
▪
He had taught them how to pick a lock , steal a car, to shoplift ... The list was endless.
▪
If I can pick a lock open, I ought to be able to pick it shut.
▪
Chick had picked the lock on the back door before we'd even got Proteus out of the car.
▪
Jay had picked the lock at 4907 Magazine Street in New Orleans.
▪
Attached to the ring was the piece of wire he used to pick locks .
put
▪
Voice over Since the raid police have put extra locks on Mr Goodyear's home.
secure
▪
I secured the locks on the wheelbarrow, crawled under canvas and wrote up the log and two letters.
▪
It was secured by one simple lock which he snapped with the blade of his penknife.
▪
Wooden framed windows are best secured with locks resembling small mortise security bolts.
▪
I fingered it, and discovered that the top was secured by a brass lock .
set
▪
I rolled the left-hand wheels back to seven-three-eight and with the latch closed again set the right-hand lock to one-three-seven.
▪
They often helped by leading the horse, setting the locks or steering the boat.
▪
Pre-take-off checks include the selection of fifteen degrees of flap and setting the tailwheel lock .
turn
▪
Well yes, but in those sorts of terms complementarity becomes a passkey which turns suspiciously many locks .
▪
And then the key had turned in the lock .
▪
The door slammed behind him, and Charlie heard a key turn in the lock .
▪
Then the door closed and the key turned resoundingly in the lock .
▪
She heard the key turn in the lock and a fear that was just short of primitive assailed her.
▪
We heard the key turn in the lock .
▪
Hopeful that the glass panes are unbroken, that the key will turn smoothly in the lock .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
force a door/lock/window
▪
He'd forced a window to get into the ground floor maisonette in the Belmont area of Hereford.
▪
House raid: Intruders forced a window at the front of a house in Ripon.
▪
The forced door especially terrified me.
▪
The burglars are believed to have forced a window.
pick a lock
▪
Attached to the ring was the piece of wire he used to pick locks.
▪
He had taught them how to pick a lock, steal a car, to shoplift ... The list was endless.
▪
If I can pick a lock open, I ought to be able to pick it shut.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
She kept a lock of his baby hair in a book.
▪
There's no lock on the door.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
Equipment was stolen from a construction site entered by cutting a front-door lock .
▪
Open up - watch the hard rasp as the key slides into the lock - and step inside.
▪
That explains why there are no locks on the lockers in the hall.
▪
The lock snapped and the detective levered up the bottom section.
▪
The locks were closed again, the process ended, insipid Vadinamian refreshments were served in the visitors gallery.
▪
Two types of locks had been developed by the Romans: the tumbler lock, and the lever lock.