deathlocks

Noun

deathlock (plural deathlocks)

1. A certain wrestling move that traps the opponent's leg.
2. A close struggle between two opponents in which each tries to kill the other.
   • When close to the whale, in the very deathlock of the fight, he handled his unpitying lance coolly and offhandedly, as a whistling tinker his hammer.1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick: Or the Whale
3. (figuratively) A struggle to destroy a force or principle to which one is opposed, or between two mutually incompatible principles.
   • The struggle of Europe, coming, as well as past, is a final struggle of opposite principles; it is the deathlock between self-government and slavery.1852, The United States Democratic Review - Volume 30, page 411
4. Rigor mortis, or a physical grip that is similarly inflexible and unyielding.
   • "Don't believe the fellow who tells you to hold your shotgun in a deathlock-tight grip — so that it won't kick you.1936, Field and Stream - Volume 41, page 43
5. (figuratively) A similarly tight hold on something nonphysical.
   • But so, it seems, is the problem. The furor instigated by the war in Vietnam was projected into fraternity bull sessions and Ballantine coffee breaks. The trouble was that nobody, not even Rusk or Zinn, had a deathlock on accurate information.1968, Arbutus, page 56