lock, stock and barrel love

lock, stock and barrel

Definitions

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

  • noun A thing in its entirety, with nothing omitted.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the three principal parts of a flintlock.

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Examples

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Comments

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  • This phrase actually refers to the parts of a musket: the lock was the firing mechanism, the stock the wooden part that supported the barrel and the lock, and the barrel, of course, is where the musket ball is loaded and fired from.

    November 17, 2007

  • Also has a mercantile connection: lock (to shop door), stock (inventory) and barrel (cracker barrel in front of wood burner stove).

    November 17, 2007

  • Yeah, I never heard that before, but I guess it makes sense. Would that origination also imply the same meaning, though, of a complete something-or-other? The lock, stock, and barrel of a gun are the entire gun. Does the lock, stock, and barrel of a store also imply the entire store?

    November 18, 2007

  • I believe so. Sort of a version of "everything but the kitchen sink...AND the kitchen sink!"

    November 18, 2007