Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To unite or join closely as by hooking or dovetailing.
  • intransitive verb To connect together (parts of a mechanism, for example) so that the individual parts affect each other in motion or operation.
  • intransitive verb To become united or joined closely, as by hooking or dovetailing.
  • noun A mechanical device that prevents a component from functioning when another component is functioning or situated in a particular way.
  • noun A stretchy fabric knitted with interlocking stitches by alternating sets of needles on a circular knitting machine.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To be locked together; mutually engage, clasp, or cling: embrace: as, the interlocking boughs of a wood.
  • To lock or clasp together; lock or hitch one in another: as, cattle sometimes interlock their horns.
  • In geography, to be involved together: specifically applied to the headwaters of two different drainage systems which dovetail together yet flow in opposite courses.
  • To cross-lock or lock in combination; lock so that unlocking can be effected only under certain conditions, or after certain other motions have previously been made.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To unite, embrace, communicate with, or flow into, one another; to be connected in one system; to lock into one another; to interlace firmly.
  • transitive verb To unite by locking or linking together; to secure in place by mutual fastening.
  • transitive verb To connect together so that the parts work together as a coordinated unit; to connect as a single system.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To fit together securely.
  • verb To interlace.
  • noun A safety device that prevents activation in unsafe conditions.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a device that prevents an automotive engine from starting
  • verb become engaged or intermeshed with one another
  • noun the act of interlocking or meshing
  • verb hold in a locking position
  • verb coordinate in such a way that all parts work together effectively

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

inter- +‎ lock

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word interlock.

Examples

  • Hornaday's 180 grain interlock serves me very well in the .300 Win Mag with IMR 4831.

    does anyone here know handloading? 2009

  • Hornaday's 180 grain interlock serves me very well in the .300 Win Mag with IMR 4831.

    does anyone here know handloading? 2009

  • The interlock is the prints, which are all kiddo friendly: bugs, farm, puppies, and the jungle print shown here.

    Fabulous Fabrics: Gossypium Organic Cotton (UK) 2008

  • The interlock is the prints, which are all kiddo friendly: bugs, farm, puppies, and the jungle print shown here.

    Archive for » 2008 » July : Crafting a Green World 2008

  • The screeding frames for tiles (6 and 8 mm thick) are shaped to provide an "interlock" at the mitre - the diagonal mitre has been replaced by a dog-legged mitre.

    Chapter 10 1997

  • The screeding frames for tiles (6 and 8 mm thick) are shaped to provide an "interlock" at the mitre - the diagonal mitre has been replaced by a dog-legged mitre.

    Chapter 7 1991

  • In particular, the groups have locked horns over so-called "interlock" technology that's been proposed in legislation in this Congress.

    Home/News 2010

  • More than 40 states have some kind of interlock requirement in their law books, with at least half of them putting the penalties on first-time offenders and repeat drunken drivers,

    Homepage | INFORUM | Fargo, ND 2010

  • More than 40 states have some kind of interlock requirement in their law books, with at least half of them putting the penalties on first-time offenders and repeat drunken drivers,

    Homepage | INFORUM | Fargo, ND 2010

  • He wouldn't even have to pay for the ignition "interlock" device that acts as a Breathalyzer every time the driver tries to start the car.

    News & Observer: Home Page 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Interlock

    a poem by the Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

    To be locked together;

    mutually engage, clasp, or cling:

    embrace: as, the interlocking

    boughs of a wood.

    To lock or clasp together;

    lock or hitch one in another:

    as, cattle sometimes

    interlock their horns.

    In geography, to be involved

    together: specifically

    applied to the headwaters

    of two different drainage systems

    which dovetail together

    yet flow in opposite courses.

    To cross-lock or lock

    in combination;

    lock so that unlocking

    can be effected only

    under certain conditions,

    or after certain

    other motions

    have previously been made.

    May 3, 2012

  • Anthology please.

    May 5, 2012

  • Yes, it's a promising concept.

    May 6, 2012

  • Above a sign that read "My First Item 1955" was a small brass plate from Perth Amboy, New Jersey—a cover for an interlock, the mechanism that keeps the doors closed when an elevator is on the move. Carr and Wilk discussed an accident that Carr blamed on an interlock situation.
    Nick Paumgarten, "Love of the Elevator," New Yorker, May 16, 2016, p. 36.

    May 30, 2016