locksmith

UK/ˈlɒksmɪθ/US/ˈlɑksmɪθ/

nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #8,245 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: locksmiths

A locksmith is the tradesman who makes and opens locks. Call a locksmith, a good locksmith, the locksmith drilled it.

The trade is unregulated in Britain, which surprises people — anybody may call themselves one, and the trade associations exist partly to fill that gap. Most emergency work is opening a door without damage, and drilling is the last resort.

Definitions of locksmith

1nounlocksmithA tradesman who makes and opens locks.B2+
“I locked myself out of the house and had to call a locksmith.”

locksmith is a trade.

Where it comes from

Lock plus smith, from Old English smith, a worker in metal. Blacksmith and goldsmith are built the same way.

Middle English
loksmith
English, today
locksmith

From Middle English loksmith; equivalent to lock + smith.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Jobs & Professions

Practise this word

locksmith in the wild

ALOA Security Professionals Association (ALOA, formerly known as the Associated Locksmiths of America) is an American trade organization for locksmiths and other physical security professionals.
ALOA Security Professionals Association
John Chubb, was an English locksmith and inventor who patented many improvements to locks, safes and strong rooms.
John Chubb (locksmith)
Schanderl was born in Munich, the daughter of a production line seamstress and a federal railway locksmith.
Gerti Schanderl
The scam targets people who call a locksmith out of desperation, usually because of being locked out of their car or premises.
Locksmith scam
Side-effects of the scam include damage to legitimate locksmiths who lose business and tend to get angry calls from people believing them to be responsible.
Locksmith scam

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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