[f. LOCK v.1 + -ING1.]
1. The action of LOCK v.1 in various senses lit. and fig.; an instance of this.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. v. 41. There is No danger in what shew of death it makes, More then the locking vp the Spirits a time.
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 145. The locking of Headers and Stretchers together.
1835–6. Todd, Cycl. Anat., I. 160/2. There was probably a locking of the bones with each other.
1842. Syd. Smith, Let. Locking in on Railw., Wks. 1859, II. 322/1. We have arranged our plan upon the locking-in system.
1860. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 53. All the hateful preparatory lockings up and packings well over.
1882. Times, 22 Feb. Such a gigantic ‘locking-up’ of produce as that.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 144. In this form of the lever escapement the pallets have not less than 10° of motion. Of this amount 2° are used for locking, and the remainder for impulse. The amount of locking is to some extent dependent on the size of the escapement…. The lighter the locking the better.
1892. Zangwill, Bow Mystery, 134. The outside locking could not have been effected if it [the key] had been in the lock.
2. concr. A contrivance for locking: † a. a lock (obs.); b. the piece of machinery in a watch, serving to lock the escapement.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., 457. Close vp sayd he, this window … with lyme and stone, stop the holes of the doore with double Matts, hanging another locking to it.
1816. Mechanic, I. 411. The locking may be compared to a light balance turning on fine pivots, without a pendulum-spring.
1851. Illustr. Catal. Gt. Exhib., 410. Patent ‘diamond escapement’ as intended for the use of marine chronometers…. The locking is intended to be jewelled.
3. a. With down. The action of providing locks for lowering a vessel on a canal. b. The action of lowering or raising a vessel by the use of a lock or locks; also with down, up.
1776. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1886), II. 246. Concerning the locking down and making a bridge … for the canal.
1795. J. Phillips, Hist. Inland Navig., 361. The use, or locking down, is thus managed. Ibid., 362. For ascending, or locking up, the boat being in the lock, the lower gates are shut.
1840. Evid. Hull Docks Comm., 122. They must enter by locking.
4. attrib. and Comb., chiefly Mech., denoting appliances serving to lock or engage one portion of a machine with another, as locking-bolt, -box, -brace, -clutch, -pole; locking-bar, -frame (see quots.); locking-pallet, -piece, a tooth of the detent, which engages successively the teeth of the escape-wheel; locking-plate, (a) = count-wheel (see COUNT sb.1 9); (b) in a lock; (c) a plate on a vehicle to take the wear of the fore-wheel when the vehicle is turning short; a rub-plate (Knight, Dict. Mech., 1875); (d) a nut-lock (ibid., Suppl., 1884); locking-spring (see quot. 1884); locking-stone, the ‘jewel’ of an escapement; locking-wheel = locking-plate (a and c).
1889. G. Findlay, Eng. Railway, 75. The *‘Locking Bar’ … is chiefly applied to siding points to prevent their being moved while a train is passing over them.
1881. Greener, Gun, 206. In the snap principle, the *locking-bolt is forced into the bites or grips by a spring upon the gun being closed.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 38. The *locking-box [in a mill governor].
1868. Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions War, 284. The hammer in its fall will force the *locking-brace to enter its proper position.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 38. A *locking clutch is fitted upon the spindle between these two wheels.
1889. G. Findlay, Eng. Railway, 21. *‘The locking-frame’ consists of a row of levers by means of which the signalman actuates every pair of points and every signal under his control.
1816. Mechanic, I. 373. A semi-cylindrical pin called the *locking-pallet. Ibid., 194. This *locking-piece, or locking-pallet.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 242/2. In the real lock it [the bolt] would be called the *locking-plate.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 156. The locking plate, the earliest arrangement of striking work, is shown in the engraving of De Vick’s clock.’
1793. Trans. Soc. Arts, XI. 293. A cart … with a *locking-pole fixed to the wheel.
1881. Instr. Census Clerks (1885), 49. Bayonet Making:… *Locking Ring Maker.
1678. Lond. Gaz., No. 1296/4. The *locking Spring being lost from the Watch.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 156. [The] Locking Spring … [is] the spring of a watch case that keeps the cover closed against the force of the fly springs. Ibid., 59. See that the face of the *locking stone is angled so as to give perceptible draw.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., Count-Wheel.… It is by some called the *Locking Wheel, because it hath … Notches in it … in order to make the Clock strike 1, 2, 3, 4, &c.
1835. Partington’s Brit. Cycl. Arts & Sci., I. 283. A circular horizontal locking-wheel, formed of iron, is attached to the front part of the carriage.
