Word.ws English Dictionary

matchlocks

matchlocks is the plural of matchlock.

Meaning of matchlock

Noun

matchlock (plural matchlocks)

  1. (historical) Early type of firearm, using a smoldering piece of cord to fire the powder in the firing pan.
    • I crept silently up the hill-road, but the fuse of my matchlock was wetted with the rain, and I could not slay Daoud Shah from afar.1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘Dray Wara Yow Dee’, Black and White, volume 1, Folio Society, published 2004, page 372
  2. The gunlock used in such a weapon, having a slow smouldering match.

Questions about matchlocks

What is matchlocks the plural of?
Matchlocks is the plural of matchlock.

Words near matchlocks in the dictionary

  1. matchlike
  2. matchlit
  3. matchlock
  4. matchlockman
  5. matchlockmen
  6. matchlocks
  7. matchmade
  8. matchmake
  9. matchmakee
  10. matchmakees
  11. matchmaker

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matchlocks (page history and authors); matchlock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “matchlocks.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/matchlocks. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.