Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

lock and load en · INTJ

Pronunciation

Etymology

Attested since at least 1793, when a document describes flintlock weapons that are ready to fire as "well locked and loaded". The variant "load(ed) and lock(ed)" is found since at least 1815. The phrase may have originated from the use of gunlocks on naval artillery (in use by the Royal Navy since 1745); as gunlocks were not required for firing (a lintstock could be used) it may have been necessary to specify cannon was "locked" as well as loaded. As an imperative, used since at least 1940, in the U.S. Army Field Manual for the M1 Rifle. Compare e.g. German "laden und sichern" ("load and secure"). Popularized in culture after being used by John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).

Meanings

  1. (US, slang) A command to prepare a weapon for battle.
    • 1949 — John Wayne in the film Sands of Iwo Jima Lock and load, boy, lock and load.
  2. (US, slang) Prepare for an imminent event.

wikipedia: Sands of Iwo Jima · wikipedia: John Wayne

lock and load en · VERB

Pronunciation

Etymology

Attested since at least 1793, when a document describes flintlock weapons that are ready to fire as "well locked and loaded". The variant "load(ed) and lock(ed)" is found since at least 1815. The phrase may have originated from the use of gunlocks on naval artillery (in use by the Royal Navy since 1745); as gunlocks were not required for firing (a lintstock could be used) it may have been necessary to specify cannon was "locked" as well as loaded. As an imperative, used since at least 1940, in the U.S. Army Field Manual for the M1 Rifle. Compare e.g. German "laden und sichern" ("load and secure"). Popularized in culture after being used by John Wayne in Sands of Iwo Jima (1949).

Meanings

  1. (US, slang) To prepare one's weapon.
  2. (US, slang) To prepare for an imminent event.
    • It's great to know that city and town governments, all up and down the East Coast, were ready, locked and loaded, to provide bailouts, and this time it was the literal kind. 2015, Fay Jacobs, Time Fries!: Aging Gracelessly in Rehoboth Beach, page 67:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
locking and loading Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
locked and loaded Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
locked and loaded Tense=Past lexicographic
locks and loads Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic

Relateds

loaded for bear

wikipedia: Sands of Iwo Jima · wikipedia: John Wayne