locker

A remaining chance to attempt something. You can't give up on your grade now—you still have a shot in the locker with your extra credit assignment!

The deepest depths of the ocean, especially as a grave for those who have died at sea. Tragically, many men from that battle in the Pacific Ocean are now in Davy Jones's locker.

To die at sea. Tragically, many men from that battle in the Pacific Ocean went to Davy Jones's locker.

Crude, vulgar, or bawdy talk, often involving boasts about one's sexual conquests. I'm no prude by any means, but I hate the locker room talk my boyfriend partakes in when his buddies are around.

Of a rude, often sexual nature, as might be discussed among men in a private setting such as a locker room. (Used before nouns.) Please, don't use that type of locker-room talk at the dinner table. Quit it with the locker-room humor, would you? You sound like a fifth grader.

Especially crude, vulgar, or bawdy humor. I'm no prude by any means, but I hate the locker-room humor my boyfriend partakes in when his buddies are around.

Especially crude, vulgar, or bawdy humor or chatter. I'm no prude by any means, but I hate the locker-room talk my boyfriend partakes in when his buddies are around.

obsolete To have no opportunities, money, or resources. Criminals released from prison don't have a shot in their locker, as they are faced with poverty and discrimination at every turn.

old-fashioned A single, final opportunity or chance to be successful. We only have this one shot in our locker—if this doesn't cure your husband's illness, then I'm afraid we'll have to prepare for the inevitable.

To remove one from a particular situation for poor behavior or performance. Likened to an athlete being removed from a game and sent to the locker room (where one typically goes after the game is over). Coach will send you to the locker room if you can't control your temper. I heard they sent Tom to the locker room after he lost his temper during the negotiations.

the bottom of the sea, especially when it is a grave. They were going to sail around the world, but ended up in Davy Jones's locker. Most of the gold from that trading ship is in Davy Jones's locker.

Fig. to order a player from the playing field, thus ending the player's participation for the day. The coach had sent four players to the showers before the end of the game. He was angry enough to send them all to the locker room.

Also, Davy's locker. The bottom of the sea, especially the grave of those who die at sea. For example, Caught out at sea during the hurricane, they thought they were heading for Davy Jones's locker . This term, first recorded in 1726, alludes to Davy Jones, a name given to the evil spirit of the sea. The ultimate origin of both Davy and Jones is disputed. A logical theory is that Jones referred to the biblical Jonah who was swallowed by a whale, and Davy was a corruption of a West Indian word for "devil."

If you have only one shot in your locker, you have only one thing left that you can do in order to succeed. He had just one shot left in his locker and if that failed, he would be ruined. Note: A locker is a small cupboard with a lock. In this case, it might be a cupboard containing ammunition.

Death, by drowning or some other means. The term was originally nautical slang, in which the bottom of the sea—the locker in question—was regarded as the grave of those who died there. It dates from the second half of the 1700s. By the mid-1800s, it had been transferred to other kinds of death as well. The term appears in writings by Washington Irving, Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, and James M. Barrie, among others, as well as in the opening verse of the U.S. Navy’s anthem, “Sail on to victory, and sink their bones to Davy Jones.”