Trip The Lock

[saski]

Is it okay to interpret 'trip the lock' in this passage:

"Arny easily tripped the lock on the front door, opened the front hood, clipped the brake lines and inserted a rigged timer so that when the vehicle reached 60 miles per hour immediately after first reaching 70 or more, the brakes would suffer a complete failure."

as meaning 'accidentally activate the lock' in the same sense as 'trip the alarm'?

 

[Route21]

See:
trip - definition of trip by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

21.*to operate, start, or set free (a mechanism, weight, etc.) by suddenly releasing a catch, clutch, or the like.
22.*to release or operate suddenly (a catch, clutch, etc.)

Hope this helps
Regards
R21

 

[SlickVic9000]

(Not a Teacher)

We usually "spring", "pick", or "force" a lock. Sometimes we "pop" the lock on a car door. However, I don't think I've heard of "tripping" a lock.

Also, I don't understand why your character needs to rig a device to the speedometer and brakes when he has already cut the brake lines. Maybe I'm missing something here.

 

[5jj]

Maybe I'm missing something here.

All you're missing is that the thread was started by our regular time-waster.

Thread Closed.