tick a lock
English edit
Etymology edit
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Verb edit
tick a lock (third-person singular simple present ticks a lock, present participle ticking a lock, simple past and past participle ticked a lock)
- To keep quiet or keep a secret.
- 2012, C. David Murphy, A Diary's House:
- “Tick-a-lock,” he pronounced; all the while twisting his fingers about his lips, and further all the while holding to his constant, dramatic, and overly-serious stare over me.
- 2012 November 15, Bill Atkinson, “Brock Lesnar: Why WWE Should Never Allow Him to Cut Long Promos”, in Bleacher Report:
- When Lesnar comes back, either at WWE Survivor Series 2012 or on a future program, he just needs to tick a lock.
- 2013, Kathleen Gerard, How to Become a Bodyguard for Celine Dion's Larynx:
- Exaggerate the “tick a lock” symbol on your lips and press the palms of your hands down toward the floor as a reminder to Madame Celine if she babbles on incessantly in her thick, French Canadian accent, bickering to her beloved husband, Rene, about their trio of boys-will-be-boys sons and her recurrent professional fears that a) she only takes home one award at the Grammy's next year, and b) she contracts tonsillitis and suffers a bout of subsequent prolonged laryngitis.
Usage notes edit
Usually accompanied by a turning gesture with the hand in front of the lips, as if turning a key in a lock.