pound lock
noun
Fuller term for lock1 (sense 2 of the noun).Exeter had been linked to Topsham by a new cut in 1564-6, certainly the first recorded use of the pound lock, the critical technology for inland navigation....
- Building on the steady growth of river navigation in the seventeenth century, ‘dead-water’ canals using pound locks were being built in Ireland in the 1730s.
Origin
Late 18th century: pound from pound3, in the sense 'body of still water, pond'.
- take the edge off
- take the fall
- take the field
- take the floor
- take the gilt off the gingerbread
- take the King's (or Queen's) shilling
- take the King's shilling
- take the law into one's own hands
- take the liberty
- take the long view
- take the mound
- take the (or one's etc.) secret to the grave
- take the part of
- take the piss (out of someone/thing)
- take the place of
- take the plunge
- take the rap
- take the rough with the smooth
- take the salute
- take the shine off
- take the starch out of
- take the trouble
- take the veil
- take the wind out of someone's sails
- take the words out of someone's mouth