# locked

Pronunciation: say "LOKT" US /lɑkt/, UK /lɒkt/

## Adjective

1. Closed and held fast by a lock, so it cannot be opened without a key or the right combination.
   - Simple: Closed and held shut by a lock so it cannot be opened easily.
   - _Every drawer in the office was locked when the auditors arrived._
   - _The gate stayed locked all weekend while the owners were away._
3. Restricted by software so that the device works only with a single mobile carrier.
   - Simple: Set up to work with only one phone company and no other.
   - _The handset arrived locked to one carrier for the length of the contract._
   - _Phones sold at a discount are often locked until the balance is paid off._
4. Held under a mutex or similar token, so that only one process can access the resource at a time.
   - Simple: Held by one program so others must wait before they can use the same thing.
   - _The record stayed locked until the first transaction committed._
   - _Threads block whenever a resource is already locked by another worker._
5. Extremely drunk; heavily intoxicated by alcohol. *(Ireland)*
   - Simple: Having drunk so much alcohol that you cannot think or move well.
   - _She was so locked she couldn't remember getting home._
   - _Half the crowd was already locked before the band even came on._
6. Having the hair formed into dreadlocks; wearing dreadlocks.
   - Simple: Having hair twisted into thick ropes called dreadlocks.
   - _His hair had been locked since his teenage years._
   - _After years of braids, she finally got her hair locked over the summer._

## Verb

2. Simple past tense and past participle of lock. — simple past and past participle of lock
   - Simple: Simple past tense and past participle of lock. Use this form for something that already happened.
   - _He locked the safe and slipped the key into his pocket._
   - _The gates were locked at sunset by the night warden._

## Origin

In the sense of 'drunk', it perhaps derives from 'airlocked'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/locked (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).