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Lock vs Secure - What's the difference?

lock | secure | Synonyms |

As verbs the difference between lock and secure

is that lock is to become fastened in place while secure is to make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.

As a noun lock

is something used for fastening, which can only be opened with a key or combination.

As a proper noun Lock

is {{surname|lang=en}.

As an adjective secure is

free from attack or danger; protected.

lock

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something used for fastening, which can only be opened with a key or combination.
  • * 1883 , (Robert Louis Stevenson), (Treasure Island)
  • "Give me the key," said my mother; and though the lock was very stiff, she had turned it and thrown back the lid in a twinkling.
  • *, chapter=13
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked, of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock .}}
  • A mutex or other token restricting access to a resource.
  • * 2005 , Karl Kopper, The Linux Enterprise Cluster
  • the application must first acquire a lock on a file or a portion of a file before reading data and modifying it.
  • A segment of a canal or other waterway enclosed by gates, used for raising and lowering boats between levels.
  • * 1846 , (William Makepeace Thackeray), Notes of a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo
  • Here the canal came to a check, ending abruptly with a large lock .
  • The firing mechanism of a gun.
  • * 1837 , (Charles Dickens), (The Pickwick Papers)
  • "I never saw such a gun in my life," replied poor Winkle, looking at the lock , as if that would do any good.
  • Complete control over a situation.
  • * 2003 , (Charley Rosen), The Wizard of Odds
  • Even though he had not yet done so, Jack felt he had a lock on the game.
  • Something sure to be a success.
  • * 2004 , (Avery Corman), A perfect divorce
  • Brian thinks she's a lock to get a scholarship somewhere.
  • (label) A player in the scrum behind the front row, usually the tallest members of the team.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=Septembe 24, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Rugby World Cup 2011: England 67-3 Romania , passage=Ashton only had to wait three minutes for his second try, lock Louis Deacon setting it up with a rollocking line-break, before Romania got on the scoreboard courtesy of a penalty from fly-half Marin Danut Dumbrava. }}
  • A fastening together or interlacing; a closing of one thing upon another; a state of being fixed or immovable.
  • * (Thomas De Quincey) (1785-1859)
  • Albemarle Street closed by a lock of carriages
  • A place from which egress is prevented, as by a lock.
  • (Dryden)
  • A device for keeping a wheel from turning.
  • A grapple in wrestling.
  • (Milton)
    Derived terms
    * alcolock * ankle lock * anti-lock * caps lock * flash lock * flat lock * flintlock * genlock * gridlock * leglock * liplock * lockfast * lock time * * lockbox * lockmaster * locknote * locksmithing * lockstep * matchlock * num lock * overlock * padlock * picklock * scroll lock * staircase lock * tide lock * time lock

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (label) To become fastened in place.
  • *, chapter=13
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=We tiptoed into the house, up the stairs and along the hall into the room where the Professor had been spending so much of his time. 'Twas locked , of course, but the Deacon man got a big bunch of keys out of his pocket and commenced to putter with the lock.}}
  • (label) To fasten with a lock.
  • (label) To be capable of becoming fastened in place.
  • (label) To intertwine or dovetail.
  • To freeze one's body or a part thereof in place.
  • To furnish (a canal) with locks.
  • To raise or lower (a boat) in a lock.
  • Antonyms
    * unlock
    Derived terms
    * lock and load * lock horns * lock in * lock lips * lock on * lock out * lock up * lockable * relock * unlockable

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) (m). Cognate with (etyl) (m) (whence (etyl) (m)), (etyl) (m). It has been theorised that the word may be related to the (etyl) verb in its ancient meaning to curb .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • tuft or length of hair
  • *
  • If I consent to burn them, will you promise faithfully neither to send nor receive a letter again, nor a book (for I perceive you have sent him books), nor locks of hair, nor rings, nor playthings?
    Derived terms
    * daglock * elflock * forelock * goldilocks * sidelock

    secure

    English

    Alternative forms

    * secuer (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Free from attack or danger; protected.
  • Free from the danger of theft; safe.
  • Free from the risk of eavesdropping, interception or discovery; secret.
  • Free from anxiety or doubt; unafraid.
  • * Dryden
  • But thou, secure of soul, unbent with woes.
  • Firm and not likely to fail; stable.
  • Free from the risk of financial loss; reliable.
  • Confident in opinion; not entertaining, or not having reason to entertain, doubt; certain; sure; commonly used with of .
  • secure of a welcome
  • * Milton
  • Confidence then bore thee on, secure / Either to meet no danger, or to find / Matter of glorious trial.
  • Overconfident; incautious; careless.
  • (Macaulay)

    Antonyms

    * insecure

    Derived terms

    * securely

    Verb

    (secur)
  • To make safe; to relieve from apprehensions of, or exposure to, danger; to guard; to protect.
  • * Dryden
  • I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, / Sustained the vanquished, and secured his flight.
  • To put beyond hazard of losing or of not receiving; to make certain; to assure; frequently with against'' or ''from'', or formerly with ''of .
  • to secure''' a creditor against loss; to '''secure a debt by a mortgage
  • * T. Dick
  • It secures its possessor of eternal happiness.
  • To make fast; to close or confine effectually; to render incapable of getting loose or escaping.
  • to secure''' a prisoner; to '''secure a door, or the hatches of a ship
  • To get possession of; to make oneself secure of; to acquire certainly.
  • to secure an estate
  • * 2014 , Jamie Jackson, " Ángel di María says Manchester United were the ‘only club’ after Real", The Guardian , 26 August 2014:
  • With the Argentinian secured United will step up their attempt to sign a midfielder and, possibly, a defender in the closing days of the transfer window. Juventus’s Arturo Vidal, Milan’s Nigel de Jong and Ajax’s Daley Blind, who is also a left-sided defensive player, are potential targets.
    "[Captain] was able to secure some good photographs of the fortress." (Flight, 1911, p. 766)
  • * , chapter=3
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”  He at once secured attention by his informal method, and when presently the coughing of Jarvis […] interrupted the sermon, he altogether captivated his audience with a remark about cough lozenges being cheap and easily procurable.}}

    Anagrams

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