Definition of "firelock" [fire•lock]

• See flintlock. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "There was not a man of the 150 attempting to represent two service squadrons who had not at some period balanced his life against his proficiency with the rifle, and who had not realised that on service his firelock was the soldier's best and staunchest friend."
• "To load and discharge a “firelock” flintlock musket required no less than twelve commands that set off eighteen distinct motions."
• "The Militia Act of 1792, signed by George (The Communist) Washington, mandated (unfunded) that nearly every “free able-bodied white male citizen” between 18 and 45 “provide himself with a good musket or firelock, a sufficient bayonet and belt, two spare flints, and a knapsack, a pouch with a box therein to contain not less than twenty-four cartridges, …”"