lock up
Britishverb
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Also: lock in, lock away. (tr) to imprison or confine
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to lock or secure the doors, windows, etc, of (a building)
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(tr) to keep or store securely
secrets locked up in history
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(tr) to invest (funds) so that conversion into cash is difficult
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printing to secure (type, etc) in a chase or in the bed of the printing machine by tightening the quoins
noun
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the action or time of locking up
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a jail or block of cells
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a small shop with no attached quarters for the owner or shopkeeper
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a garage or storage place separate from the main premises
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stock exchange an investment that is intended to be held for a relatively long period
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printing the pages of type held in a chase by the positioning of quoins
adjective
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Close a house or place of work, fastening all the doors and windows, as in The attendant locks up at eleven o'clock every night , or Did you remind Abby to lock up? [Late 1500s]
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Invest in something not easily converted into cash, as in Most of their assets were locked up in real estate . [Late 1600s]
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lock someone up . Confine or imprison someone, as in The princes were locked up in the Tower of London . [c. 1300]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
At 2.75% interest, he says, we can earn more by investing, and paying it off would lock up money we might need.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 21, 2026
It’s crazy, crazy to have kids lock up their phones and then walk into classrooms where there’s a chatbot that’s going to give them their lesson.
From Slate ● Sep. 29, 2026
So to agree to lock up their money for longer, they need more payback.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The minimum check size was $25 million for some, and many investors agreed to lock up their money with him for years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026
“I think it was locked up in here for some reason, and you wouldn’t lock up something unless it was important....”
From "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
