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Webster 1913 Edition

Noun.

An old form of gunlock containing a match for firing the priming; hence, a musket fired by means of a match.

Noun.

Formerly, the lock of a musket which was fired by a match.

matchlock ‎(plural matchlocks)

Early type of firearm, using a smoldering piece of cord to fire the powder in the firing pan.
- 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘Dray Wara Yow Dee’, Black and White, Folio Society 2004, vol. 1, p. 372:
  I crept silently up the hill-road, but the fuse of my matchlock was wetted with the rain, and I could not slay Daoud Shah from afar.
The gunlock used in such a weapon, having a slow smouldering match, see: slow match.

firearm

gunlock