A wrestling hold where someone grips their opponent's wrist or hand to control their arm.
From 'hand' (Old English 'hand') + 'lock' (Old English 'loc', meaning an enclosure or fastening). The compound emerged in wrestling terminology in the 19th century.
A handlock is deceptively powerful because the human wrist has limited rotational mobility—when locked correctly, even a smaller wrestler can control a larger opponent by exploiting the anatomy of the arm.
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