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picklock

American  
[pik-lok] / ˈpɪkˌlɒk /

noun

  1. a person who picks a lock, especially a burglar.

  2. a thief.

  3. an instrument for picking a lock; lockpick.

picklock British  
/ ˈpɪkˌlɒk /

noun

  1. a person who picks locks, esp one who gains unlawful access to premises by this means

  2. 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

Etymology

Origin of picklock

First recorded in 1545–55; pick 1 + lock 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Der Spiegel's disclosure that an expert picklock from Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's federal intelligence service had helped in the break-in enhanced the impression of a "Watergate am Rhine."

From Time Magazine Archive

The cockiest picklock in the U. S. last week signed a Europe-bound steamship's register: Charles Courtney, New York.

From Time Magazine Archive

What is a picklock compared to a debenture share?

From Time Magazine Archive

And canna be fashioned to man's purposes, and made a picklock o'?

From Wilson's Tales of the Borders and of Scotland Volume 21 by Leighton, Alexander

There is an enchanted, hidden spot in the human soul, fastened with seven locks, which no one and nothing but that picklock, bitter adversity, can open.

From Selected Polish Tales by Busch, Marie

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.