handlocks

Noun

handlock (plural handlocks)

1. A locking mechanism that operates by hand.
   • This efficient assembly is mounted on anti-vibration points, and handlocks enable the trolley to be rigidly fixed in pre-set and intermediate focusing positions.1958, The British Journal of Photography Annual, page 368
2. A restraint that attaches to the wrist, especially a shackle or handcuff.
   • Hugh MacGerrald, being duly sworn and examined, deposeth that he was apprehended by William Graeme, the Provost Marshal, who kept him seven days in his custody, tied with a handlock, and two several times the said Graham threatened to hang this examt. if he would not do service against Phelim...1884, Mary Agnes Hickson, Ireland in the seventeenth century
3. A hold for restraining another person by immobilizing their hand.
   • Lisa gets me in a handlock and starts to kiss me.1987, Larry Bograd, Bernie Entertaining, page 100
4. Immobilization of the hand.
   • Typical hypnotic phenomena such as handlock, involuntary body immobility, and selective amnesia were produced by direct suggestion alone, without trance induction, although trance subjects showed more of the phenomena.1963, Ernest Adolf Spiegel, Progress in Neurology and Psychiatry, page 616

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