GC: n
CT: Operating the locks and dams is a continuous job as tows and recreational boats can lock through all year long as weather conditions permit. The current 9-foot channel lock and dam system was built in the 1930s with an estimated life span of 50 years. The structures have long outlived their life expectancy but continue to operate 24/7 due to the hard work and dedication of the men and women charged with maintaining the structures. Nearly half of the District’s employees are involved in some part of the maintenance or operation of the lock and dam and navigation system.
S: http://www.mvr.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation.aspx (last access: 1 February 2015)
N: 1. “means of fastening,” Old English loc “bolt, fastening; barrier, enclosure,” from Proto-Germanic lukan. “The great diversity of meaning in the Teut. words seems to indicate two or more independent but formally identical substantival formations from the root.”
The Old English sense “barrier, enclosure” led to the specific meaning “barrier on a river” (c.1300), and the more specific sense “gate and sluice system on a water channel used as a means of raising and lowering boats” (1570s). Wrestling sense is from c.1600. Phrase under lock and key attested from early 14c.
2. A structure in a canal or waterway with gates at each end, used in raising and lowering vessels from one level to another.
3. An enclosed part of a canal, waterway, etc. equipped with gates so that the level of the water can be changed to raise or lower boats from one level to another.
4. navigational lock: Term standardized by ISO.
5. Cultural Interrelation: Leonardo da Vinci’s Canal Lock.
S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=lock&searchmode=none (last access: 1 February 2015). 2. GDT – http://gdt.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca/ficheOqlf.aspx?Id_Fiche=17027901 (last access: 24 August 2014). 3 & 4. TERMIUMPLUS. 5. http://www.leonardodavincisinventions.com/civil-engineering-inventions/leonardo-da-vincis-canal-lock/ (last access: 31 March 2015).
SYN: navigational lock, navigation lock, canal lock.
S: TERMIUMPLUS
