latch

(lăch)

1. A fastening, as for a door or gate, typically consisting of a bar that fits into a notch or slot and is lifted from either side by a lever or string.

2. A spring lock, as for a door, that is opened from the outside by a key.

v. latched, latch·ing, latch·es

v.tr.

To close or lock with a latch.

v.intr.

1. To have or be closed with a latch.

2. To shut tightly so that the latch is engaged: a door too warped to latch.

Idiom:

latch on to/onto

1. To get hold of; obtain: latched on to a fortune in the fur trade.

2. To cling to.

[Middle English latche, from lacchen, to seize, from Old English læccan.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The door was still closed and latched as he and D'Arnot had left it.

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But scarcely was he through, when a heavier roll slammed the door and latched it.

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Then he cautiously left the house and latched the door behind him.

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Con Edison has installed more than 750 latched covers on its manholes.

Manhole study earns research nod

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