latch

English

Wikipedia

A latch

Etymology

Middle English latche (“a latch”), from lacchen (“to seize”), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”), from Proto-Germanic *lak(w)janan, *lakkijanan (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lag-, *(s)lagw- (“to take, seize”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: lăch, IPA: /lætʃ/, SAMPA: /l{tS/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ætʃ

Noun

latch (plural latches)

1. A fastening for a door that has a bar that fits into a notch or slot, and is lifted by a lever or string from either side.
   • 1912: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, Chapter 4

     The cleverly constructed latch which Clayton had made for the door had sprung as Kerchak passed out; nor could the apes find means of ingress through the heavily barred windows.

2. A flip-flop electronic circuit
3. (obsolete) A latching.
4. (obsolete) A crossbow.

Derived terms

• on the latch

Translations

fastening for a door

Albanian: reze (sq), bakllama (sq) Dutch: slot (nl) Finnish: säppi (fi), salpa (fi) French: loquet (fr) Hungarian: retesz (hu)

Italian: chiavistello (it) m. Russian: щеколда (ru) f. Simplified Chinese: 门闩, 门扣 Spanish: cerrojo (es) m. Swedish: hasp (sv), regel (sv)

flip-flop electronic circuit

Swedish: låskrets (sv)

latching

crossbow

Dutch: kruisboog (nl)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Spanish: pestillo, picaporte

Telugu: గడియ (gaDiya)

Verb

latch (third-person singular simple present latches, present participle latching, simple past and past participle latched)

1. To close or lock as if with a latch

Derived terms

• latch on
• latch on to
• latch onto

Translations

• Finnish: salvata, panna säppiin