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picklock

[pik-lok]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR picklock ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person who picks a lock, especially a burglar.
a thief.
an instrument for picking a lock; lockpick.

Origin of picklock

First recorded in 1545–55; pick1 + lock1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for picklock

crook, thief, robber, prowler, pilferer, owl, housebreaker, safecracker, filcher

Examples from the Web for picklock

Historical Examples of picklock

  • It appears to be a kind of picklock, an open sesame, Tanner—Tawno!

    Lavengro

    George Borrow

  • A picklock lay on the floor, which told me how she had gained entrance in the night.

  • He was so excellent a lawyer, that he was called The Picklock of the Lawe.

  • Oddly enough the picklock to the captives' minds had been produced by the dolphins.

    Key Out of Time

    Andre Alice Norton

  • I know them; I have the key, or the picklock to their minds.

    The Absentee

    Maria Edgeworth

British Dictionary definitions for picklock

picklock

noun

a person who picks locks, esp one who gains unlawful access to premises by this means
an instrument for picking locks
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for picklock
n.

1550s, from pick (v.) + lock (n.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper