ˈlockchester Obs. exc. dial.
Also 5 lokecheste.
[perh. f. lock v.1 + chest + -er1, in allusion to the creature's habit of rolling itself up tightly.]
A woodlouse.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 310/2 Locchester, wyrm. a 1485 Ibid. 316/2 (MS. S.) Lukchester, worm. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 597/8 Multipes, a lokecheste, or a shrympe. 1847–78 Halliwell s.v. Lockchest, A gardener [in Oxfordshire] used to call the wood-louse lockchester. |