Interlocks

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To join together by fitting parts tightly so they cannot be separated easily
2. To connect pieces or elements so they hold or mesh firmly with each other
3. To engage components by their shapes to create a stable and inseparable union

Etymology: "Interlocks" is the third-person singular form of the verb "interlock," so it describes something that joins parts together by fitting them tightly into one another. The verb is built from two English pieces: the prefix "inter-," from Latin "inter" meaning "between" or "among," and "lock," the ordinary word for a fastening that holds something shut. Put together, the idea is of parts that catch and hold one another from between. The "lock" half has a long road behind it. It traces back through Old English "loc" and Proto-Germanic "lukÄ…," and ultimately to a Proto-Indo-European root that is also the ancestor of words meaning "to close" or "to enclose." Its earliest sense was simply a bar or fastening, which explains why an interlock is literally a joining of parts that bar each other's movement.

Synonyms: engages, connects, links, meshes, entwines

Antonyms: disconnects, detaches, separates