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.
“We don’t know how long we’re going to stay here, so we didn’t want to lock up money in a house,” he said.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
In addition, owning a home would lock up their money for the long term, making it difficult for them to move for work or to care for aging family members.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026
"You've got three corners where you're turning and braking, and if you lock up, the wall is right in front of you, which is very reminiscent of the corner in Baku - Turn 15."
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 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
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.
