# latch
## English
### Pronunciation

* enPR: lăch, IPA: /læt͡ʃ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ætʃ

### Etymology 1

From Middle English lacchen (“to seize, catch, grasp”, verb), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”), from Proto-Germanic *lakjaną, *lakwijaną, *lakkijaną (“to seize”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leh₂g-, *(s)leh₂gʷ- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lakken (“to grasp, catch”).

#### Verb

latch (third-person singular simple present latches, present participle latching, simple past and past participle latched or (obsolete) laught)
* To close or lock as if with a latch.
* (transitive) To catch; lay hold of.
** c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii]:Where hearing should not latch them.
* (databases) To use a latch (kind of lightweight lock).

##### Derived terms

* latch on
* latch on to
* latch onto

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English latche, lacche (“a latch; a trap”), from lacchen (“to seize, catch, grasp”), from Old English læċċan (“to grasp, take hold of, catch, seize”). See above for more.

#### Noun

latch (plural latches)
* 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.
** 1912 October, Edgar Rice Burroughs, “Tarzan of the Apes”, in The All-Story, New York, N.Y.: Frank A. Munsey Co., →OCLC; republished as chapter 4, in Tarzan of the Apes, New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, 1914 June, →OCLC:The cleverly constructed latch which Clayton had made for the door had sprung as Kerchak passed out; nor could the apes find means of ingress through the heavily barred windows.
* (electronics) An electronic circuit that is like a flip-flop, except that it is level triggered instead of edge triggered.
* (obsolete) A latching.
* (obsolete) A crossbow.
* (obsolete) That which fastens or holds; a lace; a snare.
** c. 1360s (date written)​, Geffray Chaucer [i.e., Geoffrey Chaucer], “The Romaunt of the Rose”, in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London: […] Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], published 1542, →OCLC:Love will none other birde catch, Though he set either nette or latch(please add an English translation of this quotation)
* A breastfeeding baby's connection to the breast.
* (databases) A lightweight lock to protect internal structures from being modified by multiple concurrent accesses.

##### Alternative forms

* lech, letch

##### Derived terms

* latchbolt
* latchkey
* latch-up
* on the latch
* spring latch
* throat latch

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Etymology 3

Compare French lécher (“to lick”).

#### Verb

latch (third-person singular simple present latches, present participle latching, simple past and past participle latched)
* (obsolete) To smear; to anoint.
** c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:But hast thou yet latch'd the Athenian's eyes With the love-juice , as I did bid thee do?