Forms: 4 lokat, 5 loket, 6 lockett, -itt, Sc. lokart, 6– locket. [ad. OF. locquet, loquet, luquet (mod.F. loquet latch: see LUCKET), dim. of loc latch, lock (recorded chiefly as AF.), of Teut. origin, cognate with LOCK sb.2]
† 1. One of the iron cross-bars of a window. Obs.
1354. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 92. In mercede fabri facientis pragges et lokats de ferro suo proprio pro fenestris figendis.
1541. in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotl. (1862), III. 163. And to put in ilk lycht of the wyndois grete lokartis of irne for binding of glas thareto.
1598. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 252. In euery light one vpright barr and fiue Crosse barrs or locketts.
attrib. 1379. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 101. Et in C loketnayles 31/2d. Ibid., 102. Et in lxx loketnayles, 2d.
2. One of the metal plates or bands on a scabbard.
1562. Act 5 Eliz., c. 7. No person … shall bring … into this Realme … Hiltes, Pommeles, Lockettes, Chapes, Dagger Blades [etc.].
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Locket,… that part of a Sword-scabbard, where the Hook is fastened.
1879. Unif. Reg., in Navy List (1882), July, 487/2. Scabbard.—The top and middle lockets to be four and three inches and a half long respectively.
† 3. A fastening or socket; Naut. (see quot. a. 1642). Obs.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1704), 346/1. Lockets are the Holes the Pintle of the Murderers goes into.
1664. Butler, Hudibras, II. i. 808. That other Virtuous School of Lashing; Where Knights are kept in narrow lists, With wooden Lockets ’bout their wrists.
† 4. A group of small jewels set in a pattern. Obs.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 12. Like a Locket of Diamonds, or a Sett of round Crystal Beads.
1696. Bp. Patrick, Comm. Exod. xxviii. (1697), 541. Twelve Ouches, in which every single Stone was set, as we see it now, in our present Lockets.
1704. Lond. Gaz., No. 3984/4. Lost,… a Gold Case of a Watch, set on the outside with nine Lockets, and little Diamonds between.
1706. Phillips, Locket, a Set of Diamonds, or other Jewels.
5. † a. ‘A small lock; any catch or spring to fasten a necklace or other ornament’ (J.). Obs. Hence the now current sense b. A small case of gold or silver, containing a miniature portrait, a lock of hair, etc., and worn (usually, suspended from the neck) as an ornament.
For a passage c. 1320 often quoted as an example of this sense, see LOKET.
a. 1727. Bailey, vol. II., Locket, a little Lock of a Gold Chain.
1765. Ann. Reg., 152. The [nabob’s] turban … has a top … most ingeniously contrived with lockets and springs to take in or let out.
b. 1679. [see HAIR sb. 10].
1720. Gay, Poems, II. 399. Some by a snip of woven hair In posied lockets bribe the fair.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xxxviii. It contained a little gold locket: in which were two locks of hair.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., II. XXXIII. 45. Locket, fine brilliant centre and drop, pierced open setting.
Hence Locketed ppl. a. a. Ornamented with a locket. b. Set in a locket.
1871. G. A. Sala, in Belgravia, XIV. 430. Somebody … was highly curled, oiled, ringed, chained, pinned, and locketed.
1901. Academy, 10 Aug., 110/1. His [Geo. IV.’s] request to be buried in his night-shirt, beneath which was a locketed portrait of Mrs. Fitzherbert.
