lock, stock and barrel

English

Etymology

From the three principal parts of a flintlock.[1] The explanation that it refers to all of a shopkeeper’s possessions—the lock to the door, the stock in trade and the items stored in barrels—is fanciful.[2] First attested in an 1817 letter by the Scottish novelist Walter Scott (see quotation).[3]

Adverb

lock, stock and barrel (not comparable)

  1. Entirely, completely.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:completely
    They want to buy the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel.
    • 1817 October 29, Walter Scott, “To the same [Daniel Terry]”, in J[ohn] G[ibson] Lockhart, Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Bart., volume II, Philadelphia, Pa.: Carey, Lea, & Blanchard, published 1837, →OCLC, chapter III, page 59:
      I do not believe I should save £100 by retaining Mrs. Redford, by the time she was raised, altered, and beautified, for, like the Highlandman’s gun, she wants stock, lock, and barrel to put her into repair.
    • 1961 June, A. J. Knowles, “An Appraisal of the Cuban Revolution”, in Atlas, volume 1, number 4, page 41:
      Supposing the whole Castro regime—lock, stock and barrel—were to be swept out by counter-revolutionaries as effectively as the Batista regime was cleared out […]

Noun

lock, stock and barrel (uncountable)

  1. (uncommon) The entirety of a thing, with nothing omitted.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:everything
    • 1824 April 7, Balt[imore] Morn[ing] Chron[icle], “Standing Armies”, in The Adams Centinel, volume VIII, number 22, Gettysburg, Pa.: Robert Goodloe Harper, →OCLC, page [2], column 2:
      Congress are in possession of the flint, powder, gun, lock, stock and barrel, and still we exclaim with the old lady, take away the musket.
    • 1872, Charles Chapman, A Voyage from Southampton to Cape Town, in the Union Company's Mail Steamer, page 27:
      Well, they are men cooks; they don't think of what importance a good cup of tea is to a lady. They don't remember that it is the lock, stock, and barrel of a lady's comforts.
    • 1945, George F. Foley Jr., Sinbad of the coast guard, page 85:
      "Sinbad not only gets the keys of the city, he gets the whole lock, stock and barrel!"

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ Patricia T. O’Conner, Stewart Kellerman (4 November 2019) “Lock, stock, and barrel”, in Grammarphobia‎[1], archived from the original on 15 November 2019.
  2. ^ Gary Martin (1997–) “Lock, stock and barrel”, in The Phrase Finder.
  3. ^ “lock, stock, and barrel” under “lock, n.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Further reading

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