PADLOCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does padlock mean? 

• PADLOCK (noun)
  The noun PADLOCK has 1 sense:

1. a detachable lock; has a hinged shackle that can be passed through the staple of a hasp or the links in a chain and then snapped shut

  Familiarity information: PADLOCK used as a noun is very rare.

• PADLOCK (verb)
  The verb PADLOCK has 1 sense:

1. fasten with a padlock

  Familiarity information: PADLOCK used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PADLOCK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A detachable lock; has a hinged shackle that can be passed through the staple of a hasp or the links in a chain and then snapped shut

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("padlock" is a kind of...):

lock (a fastener fitted to a door or drawer to keep it firmly closed)

Meronyms (parts of "padlock"):

shackle (a U-shaped bar; the open end can be passed through chain links and closed with a bar)

Derivation:

padlock (fasten with a padlock)

• PADLOCK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they padlock    ... he / she / it padlocks   
Past simple: padlocked   
Past participle: padlocked   
-ing form: padlocking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fasten with a padlock

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "padlock" is one way to...):

lock (fasten with a lock)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

padlock (a detachable lock; has a hinged shackle that can be passed through the staple of a hasp or the links in a chain and then snapped shut)

 Context examples 

The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with stout cord.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

After a very short search, you will discover a division in the tapestry so artfully constructed as to defy the minutest inspection, and on opening it, a door will immediately appear—which door, being only secured by massy bars and a padlock, you will, after a few efforts, succeed in opening—and, with your lamp in your hand, will pass through it into a small vaulted room.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

I merely wish to say, that as a slight token of my gratitude for the honor done me, and as a means of promoting friendly relations between adjoining nations, I have set up a post office in the hedge in the lower corner of the garden, a fine, spacious building with padlocks on the doors and every convenience for the mails, also the females, if I may be allowed the expression.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

On each side of the gate was a small window, not above six inches from the ground: into that on the left side, the king’s smith conveyed fourscore and eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady’s watch in Europe, and almost as large, which were locked to my left leg with six-and-thirty padlocks.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Now I am in the garden at the back, beyond the yard where the empty pigeon-house and dog-kennel are—a very preserve of butterflies, as I remember it, with a high fence, and a gate and padlock; where the fruit clusters on the trees, riper and richer than fruit has ever been since, in any other garden, and where my mother gathers some in a basket, while I stand by, bolting furtive gooseberries, and trying to look unmoved.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)