Definition of "unlocking" gerund of unlock : the act by which something is unlocked . quotations examples
Quotations She had heard him , more than once , lock something up in one of the rooms —come out , and go into another room —wait there a few minutes —then return to the first room , with his keys in hand —and sharply turn the locks , and turn them again . […] [I ]t was just as probable that these comings and goings , these lockings and unlockings might be attributable to the existence of some private responsibility , which had unexpectedly intruded itself into the old man 's easy existence , and which tormented him with a sense of oppression , new to the experience of his later years .
1862, [William] Wilkie Collins, chapter II, in No Name. […], volume III, London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., […], 7th scene (St. Crux-in-the-Marsh), pages 254–255