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A key, a padlock or a small figure: the controls are frozen.
Also known as: Key symbol on an appliance, Padlock on a washing machine, Control lock
A lock mark on a control panel. It does not switch anything off — a running programme continues — which is the distinction that catches people out when they try to cancel a cycle and nothing happens.
A key, padlock or child figure indicating that the appliance's controls are locked against further input.
What a given programme actually does is in the appliance's own instructions. The symbol names the function; the manufacturer decides how it behaves.
Contexts: Electrical equipment
Locks the controls, not the appliance. A programme already running continues to run, and on many machines the lock must be released before anything — including cancelling — can be done.
A machine that will not respond to any button is usually locked rather than broken.
Distinct from the door interlock on a washing machine, which is a mechanical safety device holding the door shut while the drum turns or while water is present, and is not user-releasable.
A small key seen in profile, or a closed padlock with a rounded shackle, or the outline of a child figure, sometimes within a circle.