latch

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun 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.
• noun A spring lock, as for a door, that is opened from the outside by a key.
• intransitive verb To close or lock with a latch.
• intransitive verb To have or be closed with a latch.
• intransitive verb To shut tightly so that the latch is engaged.
• idiom (on to/onto) To get hold of; obtain.
• idiom (on to/onto) To cling to.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun A tanners' pit, sunk below the general level of the ground, in which ooze is prepared from tan-bark or other similar material by leaching it with water. A contraction of latch- or leach-pit.
• noun A miry place.
• noun A device for catching or retaining something; a catch.
• noun A kind of gravity-lock, or door fastening consisting of some form of pivoted bolt falling into and catching against a catch or stop. Latches are usually made with a lifter or lever for raising the bar from either side of the door. Some simple forms consist merely of a wooden baron the inside, which is raised by a string passed through a hole in the door, Door- and gate-latches are made in many forms, and are described by their names, rim-, night-, thumb-latches, etc.
• noun Nautical, a small line like a loop, used to fasten a bonnet on the foot of a sail. Also latching.
• noun The trigger of a crossbow; hence, the crossbow itself when it is of the kind discharged by a latch.
• noun In a knitting-machine, same as fly, 3 .
• To seize; lay hold of; snatch; catch.
• To take; snatch up or off.
• To receive; obtain.
• To hold; support; retain.
• To close or fasten with a latch; as, to latch a gate.
• To snatch: with at.
• To light or fall.
• To tarry; loiter; lag.
• To pour or drip (water); dribble.
• To drip a liquid upon; moisten.
• See leach.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• transitive verb obsolete To smear; to anoint.
• transitive verb obsolete To catch so as to hold.
• transitive verb To catch or fasten by means of a latch.
• noun obsolete That which fastens or holds; a lace; a snare.
• noun A movable piece which holds anything in place by entering a notch or cavity; specifically, the catch which holds a door or gate when closed, though it be not bolted.
• noun (Naut.) A latching.
• noun obsolete A crossbow.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun 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.
• noun A flip-flop electronic circuit
• noun obsolete A latching.
• noun obsolete A crossbow.
• verb To close or lock as if with a latch

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun spring-loaded doorlock that can only be opened from the outside with a key
• noun catch for fastening a door or gate; a bar that can be lowered or slid into a groove
• verb fasten with a latch