Showing posts with label Lock Stock and Barrel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lock Stock and Barrel. Show all posts

Jul 8, 2016

Wordology, Lock, Stock, and Barrel

This means everything, the whole thing. The term lock, stock, and barrel refers to the parts of a gun. There are three major parts of a gun, the lock or firing mechanism, the stock or wood handle, and the barrel which the bullet travels through. If one has a lock, stock, and barrel, then one has everything that makes up a gun. In time, the phrase came to be used figuratively to mean the whole thing.