Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🔒 To fasten shut 🔒 A door fastener
to latch

to latch

58 2.5
To fasten a door or gate with a small metal part
  • verb
  • /læʧ/
translation icon : cerrar con pestillo
  • She reached up to latch the window after closing it.

You make sure it latches and then it's back.

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • You make sure it latches and then it's back.

    Doug DeMuro

  • So the owner leaps outta bed and races to the barn, and sees to his amazement that the animals are secure, the bales of wheat are bound and wrapped, the silo doors are latched, and the grain is dry.

    Have a Little Faith (2011)

  • So it needs to be able to latch on and latch off.

  • So it needs to be able to latch on and latch off.

  • First you push this up, latch it, and then you have to secure these bolts in place.

  • The screen latches sometimes, hence the tape.

  • Is it possible it wasn't fully latched last time it was closed?

    Smile (2022)

  • The attendant swings a car around and latches the door behind them.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • From the smoky houses, children trudged to school; fathers latched gates and departed for work.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • When one of the lungworms touches a spore package, it latches on and climbs up to the top.

    Academic text (2000)

Synonyms

to lock
vsto latch
∞ 1.0

To fasten something with a key so other people cannot open it

works with a simple hinged catch rather than a full closure device
to lock up
vsto latch
97 2.6

Close a house or safe with a key to keep people out

applies a small catch to hold a door closed rather than full confinement
to fasten
vsto latch
68 1.6

Hold something in place so it cannot move

refers specifically to using a small hinged catch on doors or windows
to bolt
vsto latch
34 2.8

To fasten a door or gate with a sliding metal bar

uses a small hinged catch rather than a solid sliding bar
to padlock
vsto latch
11 3.4

To fasten something using a small metal lock with a U-shaped bar

uses a hinged catch on the door rather than an attachable device
to bolt the door
vsto latch
3 2.7

To slide a metal bar across a door to keep it closed

is done using a small hinged catch rather than a sliding bar
to clasp
vsto latch
3 3.0

To fasten something with a small hook or buckle

uses a hinged catch on a frame rather than a hook or buckle

Phrasal Verbs

to latch onto
  • Informal
11 4.9

To become very interested in something and follow it closely

to latch on
  • Informal
4 4.9

To begin to understand an idea after not getting it at first

to unhook the latch
1 5.0

To open a gate or window by taking off the small catch that holds it closed

to latch on
3.8

To hold on to something so it stays attached

Compounds

door latch
3 3.8

A device on a door that you open from the outside with a key

hood latch
  • Specialized
1 4.6

A small part that holds a car's hood closed until you open it

night latch
  • UK
8.0

A lock on a door that you open inside by a knob and outside with a key

How Firmly

to fasten
68 1.6
to lock
∞ 1.0
to latch
58 2.5
hook
192 1.0
clip
152 1.3

Surface Forms

latch infinitive
latched past
latched past participle
latching present participle
latches third person singular

Etymology

Latch comes from the same old English word meaning 'to catch', so to latch a gate or window is to make the catch hold it shut.