jail lock

English

Jail lock (Scandinavian padlock)

Noun

jail lock (plural jail locks)

1. A kind of cast-iron padlock.

   Synonym: Scandinavian padlock

   • 1887, Minnesota State Board of Corrections and Charities, Biennial Report of the State Board of Corrections and Charities:

     The outer, and inner entrance doors have jail locks.

   • 1927, New York Legislative Documents - Volume 20, page 343:

     To prevent this and the possibility of scandal (which could happen on trumped up charges) a grated steel door with jail lock should be placed on this doorway.

   • 2007, Graham Pulford, High-Security Mechanical Locks: An Encyclopedic Reference, →ISBN:

     Also known as jail locks, Scandinavian padlocks were made from cast components, having a malleable iron body, shackle, and key.

   • 2009, Michael Norman, The Nearly Departed, →ISBN:

     An old jail lock hanging on the wall swayed back and forth.

   • 2013, Robin Sterling, People and Things from the Cullman, Alabama Tribune 1877, →ISBN:

     The locks to the doors must be the Scandinavian Jail Lock.

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see jail,‎ lock.

Further reading

• “jail lock”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.