1. Home
2. Idioms
3. lock up

lock up

---

---

lock someone or something up (somewhere)

to lock someone or something within something or some place. The captain ordered the sailor locked up in the brig until the ship got into port. Don't lock me up! The sheriff locked up the crook in a cell.

See also: lock, up

lock up

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]

See also: lock, up

lock up

v.

1. To shut or make something secure with or as if with locks: We locked the house up and went on vacation. I locked up my bike and went into the store. The owner locks up every day at 5:00.

2. To confine or exclude something or someone by or as if by means of a lock: We locked up the dog for the night. The guards locked the criminal up in the cell. All our savings are locked up in a retirement account.

3. To become fixed in place so that movement or escape is impossible; be immobilized: I was so nervous that my knees locked up and I couldn't walk. The car's brakes locked up, and it skidded to a halt.

See also: lock, up