Phrase guide

lock, stock and barrel

adv · noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

adv

Meaning 1

Entirely, completely.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • They want to buy the whole thing, lock, stock and barrel.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: absolutely, all-out, tout à fait, all the way, blind, altogether, at large, at length, cap-a-pie, categorically, completely, detailly, downright, entirely, exhaustively, finally, first and last, flat-out, flat out, from aardvark to zymurgy, from A to Z, from head to toe, from soup to nuts, from stem to stern, from the rooter to the tooter, from top to bottom, from top to toe, fully, handsomely, heartily, head to foot, head to tail, head to toe, hook, line, and sinker, in detail, in full, lock, stock, and barrel, one hundred percent, out-and-out, out and out, outright, particularly, perfectly, plumb, properly, purely, quite, right, root and branch, soundly, soup-to-nuts, straight up, through and through, top to tail, top to toe, totally, totes, to the bone, to the core, to the full, utterly, well and truly, whole, whole cloth, wholly

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The entirety of a thing, with nothing omitted.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncommon, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: all the marbles, bag and baggage, everytang, everything but the galley stove, everything but the kitchen sink, everything under the sun, full monty, hook, line and sinker, kit and caboodle, lock, stock and barrel, the whole bang shoot, the whole nine yards, the works, whole ball of wax, whole hog, whole enchilada, whole kit and caboodle, whole package, whole shebang, whole shitting match, whole shooting match, whole smash

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From the three principal parts of a flintlock. The explanation that it refers to all of a shopkeeper’s possessions—the lock to the door, the stock in trade and the items stored in barrels—is fanciful. First attested in an 1817 letter by the Scottish novelist Walter Scott (see quotation).

Across languages

Translations

8 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • German: mit Sack und Pack — entirely
  • German: mit Kind und Kegel — entirely
  • Hungarian: tokkal-vonóval — entirely
  • Hungarian: cakompakk — entirely
  • Hungarian: mindenestül — entirely
  • Hungarian: szőröstül-bőröstül — entirely
  • Hungarian: kompletten — entirely
  • Polish: w całości — entirely