box and lock

verb

To suppress or hide (something) so that it is not readily available or capable of action.

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbbox and lock (third-person singular simple present boxes and locks, present participle boxing and locking, simple past and past participle boxed and locked)

present singular third person boxes and locks · participle present boxing and locking · participle past boxed and locked · past boxed and locked

  1. idiomaticinformalTo suppress or hide (something) so that it is not readily available or capable of action.

    No questions asked, shut the actual fuck up, box and lock.

    2020, Becky Manawatu, Auē, page 188
    3 more examples

    Structural racism and its monopolies have "boxed and locked” Black people.

    2000, Claud Anderson, PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America, page 25

    Eventually, the belief becomes boxed and locked away from general access.

    2006, Tim Gooding, The Emergence of Us, page 106

    There's no need for me to keep holding back from him, to keep that part of me boxed and locked up tight.

    2016, Marquita Valentine, After We Fall: A Take the Fall Novel
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see box, lock.

Origin

From the directive to keep firearms in a box that is locked so that they are only available under considered circumstances and to authorized users.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

box and lock. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/box%20and%20lock

MLA

“box and lock.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/box%20and%20lock. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “box and lock,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/box%20and%20lock.

Source: box and lock on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.