Also 5–6 loker(e, -yr. [f. LOCK sb.2 or v.1 + -ER1.]
I. One who locks.
1. An officer at the Custom House, in charge of a locked-up warehouse, acting under the warehouse-keeper.
1735. J. Chamberlayne, St. Gt. Brit., II. III. 200. (List of Excise Officers), Six Lockers at the Tea Warehouses, each 30l. per Ann.
1812. J. Smyth, Pract. of Customs (1821), 361. The Locker in attendance at the Warehouse receives notice of the Merchant’s intention to ship the Goods.
1858. in Simmonds, Dict. Trade.
1887. Daily News, 7 April, 6/7. Robert Lecky, the prisoner’s father,… had been a locker in the service of the Customs.
2. slang. (See quot.)
1718. C. Higgin, True Discov. (Farmer). I am a locker, I leave goods at a house and borrow money on them, pretending that they are made in London.
3. With advs.
1751. Hist. Acc., 66, note. Had it fell into the Hands of one of the Park-Lockers-up.
1887. Pall Mall Gaz., 18 Oct., 4/1. Young men may remain out until twelve on leaving their names with the locker-up.
1894. Athenæum, 30 June, 831/2. In several pitched battles between the two parties the lockers-out were successful.
II. A means of locking.
4. techn. Something that locks or closes; † ? a stopper, a stop to a bell.
1417. in Surtees Misc. (1888), 13. That the water be ledde downe … be a pype of lede closed wyth a loker.
1545. Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden), 21. Item, for settynge up of a loker to drawe the corde before the crucifixe. Ibid. (1569), 139. Item, a locker and a handell ffor the second bell … iiijd.
1844. G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., vii. 211. Bobbins, pushers, lockers, point-bars.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal Mining, 159. Locker, a short iron or wooden bar for scotching tram wheels on inclined roads.
† b. = LOCKET 2. Obs.
1660. Act 12 Chas. II., c. 4 Sched., Lockers or Chapes for Daggers.
III. A locked or enclosed receptacle.
5. A box or chest with a lock; also, a small cupboard, e.g., one attached to a bench, or placed under a window-seat.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 311/2. Lokere, cistella.
1447. Bokenham, Seyntys (Roxb.), 31. They … trussyd the body in a loker of tre.
1463. Bury Wills (Camden), 19. The bulle and the busshoppees seelys … be set in a loker of burde for brekyng of the seelys.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. ii. Some small Lockers to put in some Bottles of such Liquor as he thought fit to drink.
1754. Mrs. Delany, Lett. to Mrs. Dewes, 296. I have ordered lockers to your windows.
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 509. The specimens thus pasted, are conveniently kept in lockers.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 237. Some benches have a locker, or cavity.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 112. The planers, lathes, and drills have their lockers.
1886. W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 316. Iliana’s trousseau was stored away in the stout old heavy lockers.
b. Naut. A chest or compartment for containing clothes, stores, ammunition, etc. Often with word prefixed to indicate its use, as chain-, shot-locker. Boatswain’s locker: ‘a chest in small craft wherein material for working upon rigging is kept’ (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867). (Not) a shot in the locker, used fig. for: (no) money in one’s pocket, (not) a chance left. Laid in the lockers fig., dead. For Davy Jones’s locker see DAVY JONES.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Sea-men, 11. A Hamacke, the lockers, the round-house [etc.].
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1704), 356/2. The Gunner is … to have his Shot in a Locker near every Piece.
1644. Manwayring, Sea-mans Dict., s.v., Any little boxes, or as it were, Cubbords which are made by the Ships-sides to put in shot by the Peeces,… are (by a common name) called Lockers.
1726. G. Roberts, Four Years Voy., 41. Heaving the rest into David Jones’s Locker.
1793. Trans. Soc. Arts, XI. 188. Coiling the line in the front locker.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxxiii. Brown’s dead—shot—laid in the lockers, man.
1835. Marryat, Jac. Faithf., vii. In front of the bed-places were two lockers, to sit down upon.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, iii. 4. He …. has charge of the boatswain’s locker.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxvi. As long as there’s a shot in the locker, she shall want for nothing.
1865. Livingstone, Zambesi, vi. 151. They made a sudden dash over the lockers and across our faces for the cabin door.
1890. W. E. Norris, Misadventure, xl. He had another shot left in his locker, which he now fired.
6. A compartment in a pigeon-house, a pigeon-hole. † Applied also to the cell of bees.
1600. J. Pory, trans. Leo’s Africa, III. 146. These doues they keepe in certaine cages or lockers on the tops of their houses.
1608. Topsell, Serpents (1658), 649. The Lockers or holes of the up-grown Bees, are somewhat too large.
a. 1617. Bayne, On Eph. (1658), 91. Pigeons flye home to their own lockers.
1639. Horn & Robotham, Gate Lang. Unl., xiv. § 154. In a dove [pigeon-] hovse … to each pare of tame ones is appointed out a locker.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Locker, a Pigeon Hole.
1731. Gentl. Mag., I. 451. A Gentleman … who kept tame pigeons … discerned something white at the Lockers.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1843), I. 130. Which makes it advisable never to have their [Pigeon’s] lockers fixed to a dwelling house.
1859. Brent, Pigeon Bk., 86. Pigeon-houses, or lockers, on a more limited scale, are of various forms.
b. Eccl. A cupboard, recess, or niche in a wall usually near an altar, fitted with a door and lock, for the reservation of the Sacrament, the keeping of sacred vessels, etc.
1527. Extracts Aberd. Reg. (1844), I. 117. The Egiptiens tuk out of Thomas Watsouns houss tua siluer spounis, liand in the locker of ane schryne.
1552. in Inv. Ch. Goods Yorksh., etc. (Surtees), II. 65. Item, one loker for the sacriment.
1593. Anc. Rites Durham (Surtees), 2. The severall lockers or ambers for the safe keepinge of the vestments and ornaments belonging to everye Altar.
IV. 7. attrib. and Comb., as (sense 4) locker-bar, -plate; (sense 5) locker-hole, -key, -nipper, -room, -seat.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 733. In the year 1824, Mr. Morley added another plate to each of the *locker-bars.
1765. Treat. Dom. Pigeons, 112. The common runt … kept … generally in *locker holes in inn yards.
1894. Outing (U. S.), XXIV. 379/1. Here are my *locker keys; you’ll find everything open.
1802. J. Anfrey, in Naval Chron., VII. 48. The yeoman of the *locker-nipper.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 732. Two other long flat bars below, called the *locker plates.
1895–6. Cal. Univ. Nebraska, 252. The *locker room for young men is fitted with ninety-six lockers.
1877. W. Thomson, Voy. Challenger, I. i. 21. The *locker-seat stretches across the forward end of the laboratory.
