deadlock

Etymology

It is formed from English dead + lock, from the adjective dead in its emphatic sense, complete or absolute, and lock, the fastening device.^[2][3][4][5] The verb comes from the noun.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A complete standstill, a situation in which no side can or will proceed: first in Sheridan's play The Critic, which Etymonline dates to 1779 and the OED quotes from 1781.^[2][3][6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives 1779,^[5] and Dictionary.com 1770–80.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The figurative standstill is the oldest sense; the literal sense of a lock that can only be worked with a key, both to open and to close, unlike a spring lock, follows in 1793 in the OED;^[3] Etymonline dates it to 1808, the same year as deadbolt.^[2] In the 19th century the word was used of a tight hold in wrestling (1828) and of a tied score or drawn position in a game (1854).^[3] The verb, to bring to a standstill, is recorded from 1843; the intransitive use, to come to a standstill, especially of a jury or a voting body that cannot agree, is originally American and dates from 1903.^[3][5] In American prison slang of the 20th century, deadlock was solitary confinement or the loss of privileges, recorded from 1933.^[8] The American Heritage Dictionary adds a computing sense, a state in which two programs or devices each wait for a response from the other.^[9] In British English a deadlock is still chiefly the lock,^[10][9] where American English says deadbolt.^[9]

Timeline

• 1779 – a complete standstill, in Sheridan's The Critic (quoted by the OED from the 1781 edition).^[2][3][5]
• 1793 – a lock that is opened and closed only with a key.^[3]
• 1828 – a tight hold, especially in wrestling.^[3]
• 1843 – verb, to bring to a standstill.^[3]
• 1854 – a tied score or level position in a contest.^[3]
• 1897 – verb, to lock a latch or door with a deadlock.^[3]
• 1903 – verb, intransitive, to come to a standstill; also to tie a score.^[3]
• 1933 – in American prison slang, solitary confinement.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A situation in which opposing sides cannot agree or act, so that no progress is possible; a standstill or stalemate: Talks between the union and the owners ended in deadlock.^{[11][5][3][9]}
2. A tied score or a level position in a game or contest: A late goal broke the deadlock.^[11][3][9]
3. (chiefly British) A lock with a bolt that can only be opened and closed with a key; a deadbolt.^{[11][10][9][3]}
4. (computing) A state in which two or more processes or devices cannot continue because each is waiting for the other.^[9]
5. A device that locks the point and stock rails of a railroad switch together.^[5]

Verb

1. To bring to a deadlock, or to come to one: The committee deadlocked over the budget.^{[11][5][3][9]}
2. To lock a door or latch with a deadlock.^[3]

Related words

• deadbolt

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
9. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
10. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins