Lock'a
An unspecified amount, used to mean 'a few' or 'some'. Almost always in the construction 'a lock'a [thing]' - 'a lock'a sheep', 'a lock'a years ago', 'a lock'a money'. Functionally close to 'wheen' but with a slightly larger implied quantity.
Etymology
From Irish 'loca' (= lock, tuft, bunch), the same root that gives English 'lock' as in a lock of hair. The Ulster Scots and Hiberno-English form took the bunching image and applied it to anything that comes in modest numbers. The apostrophe in 'lock'a' marks the elided 'of': 'a lock of' contracted to 'a lock'a' in rapid speech.
In a sentence
"There's a lock'a hours left in the day yet - we'll get it done."
Historical notes
Lock'a sits in the small Ulster vocabulary of vague-quantity words alongside 'wheen' and 'rake'. The implied size is between the two: 'a wheen of pints' is a few, 'a lock'a pints' is a respectable number, 'a rake of pints' is a heavy session. None is precise; speakers calibrate by tone and context. Lock'a is more Ulster-specific than the others and is rare in southern Hiberno-English.
Alternate spellings
locka · lock of
Sources
- Macafee, Caroline. A Concise Ulster Dictionary. Oxford University Press, 1996. · dictionary
- Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla (Ó Dónaill), entry loca. · dictionary