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firelock - 4 dictionary results

fire⋅lock

  [fahyuhr-lok]
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–noun
a gun having a lock in which the priming is ignited by sparks struck from flint and steel, as the flintlock musket.
Origin:
1540–50; fire + lock 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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fire·lock   (fīr'lŏk')   
n.  See flintlock.
flint·lock   (flĭnt'lŏk')   
n.  
  1. An obsolete gunlock in which a flint fixed in the hammer produces a spark that ignites the charge.
  2. A firearm having this type of gunlock. Also called firelock.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Firelock

Fire"lock`\, n. An old form of gunlock, as the flintlock, which ignites the priming by a spark; perhaps originally, a matchlock. Hence, a gun having such a lock.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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