onlucan

• unlūcan

From West Germanic *andalūkan. Cognate with Old Saxon andlūkan, Old Dutch antlūkan, Old High German antlūhhan. Equivalent to on- +‎ lūcan.

• IPA^(key): /onˈluːkɑn/

onlūcan

1. to unlock
   • c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English

     Stæfcræft is sēo cǣġ þe þāra bōca andġiet onlȳcþ.

     Grammar is the key that unlocks the meaning of books.

   • late 9th century, Old English Martyrology

     Sēo Cristes rōd on þǣre hē wæs āhangen is on þǣre byrġ Cōnstantīnopolī on ċirican on trīwenre ċiste belocen, and þonne sēo ċist biþ onlocen, þonne cymþ þǣr upp wundorliċ stenċ, and sē biþ swā wynsum swā þǣr sīen ealle blōstman ġesamnod.

     The cross where Jesus was crucified is locked in a wooden chest in the city of Constantinople, and when the chest is opened, an incredible smell comes out, as if someone brought all the flowers in the world together in one place.

   • late 10th century, Ælfric's Lives of Saints

     Þā cōmon on sumne sǣl unġesǣliġe þēofas eahta on ānre nihte tō þǣm ārweorðan hālgan, woldon stelan þā māðmas þe menn þider brōhton, and cunnodon mid cræfte hū hīe inn cuman meahten. Sum slōg mid sleċġe swīðe þā hæpsan, sum heora mid fēole fēolode onbūtan, sum ēac underdealf þā duru mid spade, sum heora mid hlǣdre wolde onlūcan þæt ēagþyrel—ac hīe swuncon on īdel.

     Then one night eight unlucky thieves came to the saint's house to steal all the gifts that people had brought there, and carefully planned out how to break in. One of them hit the hasp hard with a sledgehammer, one messed around with a file, one dug under the door with a shovel, one climbed a ladder and tried to unlock a window—but they all labored in vain.

• Middle English: unloken, unlouken, onlouken
  • English: unlock