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What does lock and load mean?
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Where did the word 'load and lock' come from?
Lock-and-load definition: (US, slang) A <a>command</a> to prepare a weapon for battle.
Apr 13, 2021 · 13 April 2021. To lock and load literally means to ready a firearm for firing, and the phrase is often used as a command to do so. The exact phrasing of lock and load dates to just prior to the United States’ entry into World War II, but earlier uses of the command reverse the order, making it load and lock, the order of the actions depending ...
- Etymology
- Interjection
- Verb
Attested since at least 1793, when a document describes flintlock weapons that are ready to fire as "well locked and loaded". The variant "load(ed) and lock(ed)" is found since at least 1815. The phrase may have originated from the use of gunlocks on naval artillery (in use by the Royal Navy since 1745); as gunlocks were not required for firing (a ...
lock and load 1. (US, slang) A command to prepare a weapon for battle. 1.1. 1949 — John Wayne in the film Sands of Iwo Jima 1.1.1. Lock and load, boy, lock and load. 2. (US, slang) Preparefor an imminent event.
lock and load (third-person singular simple present locks and loads, present participle locking and loading, simple past and past participle locked and loaded) 1. (US, slang)To prepare one's weapon. 2. (US, slang) To prepare for an imminent event. 2.1. 2015, Fay Jacobs, Time Fries!: Aging Gracelessly in Rehoboth Beach, page 67: 2.1.1. It's great to...
Definition: The phrase lock and load means to prepare for an imminent event. This idioms comes from military jargon referring to the preparation of a weapon for battle. The phrase was used in 1949 by John Wayne in the movie Sands of Iwo Jima. Example (s) It’s time to lock and load. This idiom is in the war category. ← Previous Idiom. Next Idiom →.
Nov 22, 2017 · Whether it makes sense or not, "lock and load" is idiomatic, for 40 years or so. "Load and lock" was more popular in the WWII era. Load and (then) lock is the temporal order; but the fixed phrase is locked and loaded (more often as conjoined perfecti participles than infinitives).
Aug 15, 2017 · “Lock and load” means “lock your safety and load a magazine into your weapon.” “Lock and load” is “a military command to open the bolt of a machine gun (Lock Open) and load it.” Urban Dictionary provides a definition that is mildly not safe for work and is in bad taste in any event.
