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Showing results for lock up. Search instead for locks up.
Synonyms

lock up

British  

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

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

    a lock-up shop
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
lock up Idioms  

  1. 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]

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

  3. 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 6, he’d lock up and head home.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

Also, remove or lock up any valuables from your home before your guest arrives.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 19, 2026

But first the Rams should lock up the team that built this team: McVay and Snead.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 25, 2026

Bayern have already secured progress to the last 16 in the Champions League but can lock up a top-two spot by avoiding defeat at PSV Eindhoven in their final league phase match on Wednesday.

From Barron's • Jan. 24, 2026

We lock up six times as many citizens per capita as England, for example, and seventeen times as many as Japan.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.