lock up

verb

1. Also: lock in.  lock away. (tr) to imprison or confine

2. to lock or secure the doors, windows, etc, of (a building)

3. (tr) to keep or store securely

   secrets locked up in history

4. (tr) to invest (funds) so that conversion into cash is difficult

5. printing to secure (type, etc) in a chase or in the bed of the printing machine by tightening the quoins

noun

1. the action or time of locking up

2. a jail or block of cells

3. a small shop with no attached quarters for the owner or shopkeeper

4. a garage or storage place separate from the main premises

5. stock exchange an investment that is intended to be held for a relatively long period

6. printing the pages of type held in a chase by the positioning of quoins

adjective

1. lock-up. (of premises) without living accommodation

   a lock-up shop

Idioms and Phrases

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]

Invest in something not easily converted into cash, as in Most of their assets were locked up in real estate . [Late 1600s]

lock someone up . Confine or imprison someone, as in The princes were locked up in the Tower of London . [c. 1300]

Example Sentences

“The majority of the day is being locked up.”

From Los Angeles Times

According to the reports, members of Los Lobos Box then stormed into a wing where their rivals were locked up and attacked them.

From BBC

And yet when Palestinians talk about possible future leaders, they end up talking about a man who has been locked up for almost a quarter of a century.

From BBC

While he said not all those subject to them would otherwise have been released immediately, "there was no longer a need to have people locked up like this".

From BBC

Both of his parents died while Eagle was locked up, and he can’t even mention their names without tearing up to this day.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• ban 
• block 
• cancel 
• censor 
• deny 
• deprive 
• disallow 
• enjoin 
• exclude 
• freeze 
• halt 
• hinder 
• impede 
• inhibit 
• oppose 
• preclude 
• prevent 
• proscribe 
• restrain 
• restrict