lockout

Etymology

It is formed from English lock + out, as a noun use of the phrasal verb lock out.^[2][3][4][5] The phrasal verb is recorded from the mid-14th century in the sense "to turn or keep out of a place, bar the doors against".^[6] The verb lock, to fasten with a lock, dates from about 1300; its sense was narrowed from that of Old English lucan (“to lock, close”), and its form comes from the noun loc (“bolt, fastening”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An employer's exclusion of employees from their place of work until they accept certain terms: 1853, in the Preston Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser.^[2] Etymonline and Merriam-Webster date the word to 1854.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that in the 19th century the word could also be used of pupils who protested by shutting their teacher out of the schoolhouse, though its usual sense was the employers' measure in a labour dispute.^[6] The employers' lockout, the counterpart of a strike, remains the main sense, and it is defined in Black's Law Dictionary.^[5][7] From 1888, in the title of a United States patent, a lockout was also the automatic prevention of the use of a device, often for a limited time, a sense used especially in electronics.^[2][3] In weight training it has meant, since 1962, the full extension of the limbs at the end of a lift.^[2]

Timeline

• mid-14th century – the phrasal verb lock out, to bar the doors against someone.^[6]
• 1853 – an employer's exclusion of employees from work until terms are agreed.^[2][6]
• 1888 – the automatic prevention of the operation of a device.^[2]
• 1962 – in weightlifting, the full extension of the limbs.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An employer's closing of a workplace, or withholding of work, to put pressure on employees in a labor dispute: The lockout at the mill lasted six weeks.^[8][5][2][7]
2. The automatic prevention of the use or operation of a device, often for a limited time: a lockout after three wrong passwords.^[2][3][5]
3. In weightlifting, the full extension of the arms or legs at the end of a lift.^[2]

Related words

• lock
• lock out

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin