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Latch

//læt͡ʃ// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A fastening for a door that has a bar that fits into a notch or slot, and is lifted by a lever or string from either side.

    "The cleverly constructed latch which Clayton had made for the door had sprung as Kerchak passed out; nor could the apes find means of ingress through the heavily barred windows."

  2. 2
    Acronym of lower anchors and tethers for children. abbreviation, acronym, alt-of, uncountable
  3. 3
    catch for fastening a door or gate; a bar that can be lowered or slid into a groove wordnet
  4. 4
    An electronic circuit that is like a flip-flop, except that it is level triggered instead of edge triggered.
  5. 5
    spring-loaded doorlock that can only be opened from the outside with a key wordnet
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    A latching. obsolete
  2. 7
    A crossbow. obsolete
  3. 8
    That which fastens or holds; a lace; a snare. obsolete

    "Love will none other birde catch, Though he set either nette or latch"

  4. 9
    A breastfeeding baby's connection to the breast.
  5. 10
    A lightweight lock to protect internal structures from being modified by multiple concurrent accesses.
Verb
  1. 1
    To close or lock as if with a latch.
  2. 2
    To smear; to anoint. obsolete

    "But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes With the love-juice , as I did bid thee do?"

  3. 3
    fasten with a latch wordnet
  4. 4
    To catch; lay hold of. transitive

    "Where hearing should not latch them."

  5. 5
    To use a latch (kind of lightweight lock).
Show 1 more definition
  1. 6
    To connect to the breast.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English lacchen (“to seize, catch, grasp”, verb), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”), from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną, *lakwijaną, *lakkijaną (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂g-, *(s)leh₂gʷ- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lakken (“to grasp, catch”).

Etymology 2

From Middle English latche, lacche (“a latch; a trap”), from lacchen (“to seize, catch, grasp”), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”). See above for more.

Etymology 3

Compare French lécher (“to lick”).

See also for "latch"

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