lock up

present singular third person locks up · participle present locking up · participle past locked up · past locked up

1. transitiveTo imprison or incarcerate (someone).

   In 1970, a new era of "getting tough" on young offenders really began to gather momentum with the incoming Conservative government. The number of juveniles locked up each year increased by 500% between 1965 and 1980.

   2020 July 23, Chris Daw, “'A stain on national life': why are we locking up so many children?'”, in The Guardian

   Synonyms: send away, shut away

2. transitiveTo put (something) away in a locked location for safekeeping; (occasionally, chiefly humorously) to sequester (a person) in a similar way.

   Please lock up all valuables in the safe before leaving.

   1 more example

   Angus is back in town! Better lock up your daughters, your wife, and your sheep!

3. intransitiveTo close (and often lock) all doors and windows (of a place) securely.
4. transitiveTo lock (a door, window, etc.).

   That door still needs to be locked up.

5. intransitivecomputingTo cease responding.

   When I press this button, the program locks up.

   Synonyms: freeze, freeze up, hang, hang up

6. transitivecomputingTo cause (a program) to cease responding or to freeze.

   If your password contains a particular string of letters, entering it can lock up the login form.

7. intransitiveengineeringTo stop moving; to seize.
   1. intransitiveengineeringTo stop spinning due to excessive braking torque.

      1 more example

      Due to the engines-out condition, the landing was conducted without the brake antiskid and normal breaking^([sic]) systems. Because the emergency brake accumulator only provides for a limited amount of brake applications, full braking was applied and retained at the second touch down, resulting in the main wheels locking up. The tires quickly abraded and deflated at a point between about 300 and 450 feet beyond the second and final touch down.

      2004 October 18, Gabinete de Prevenção e Investigação de Acidentes com Aeronaves, “1.3 Damage to Aircraft”, in Accident Investigation Final Report: All Engines-out Landing Due to Fuel Exhaustion, Air Transat Airbus A330-243 marks C-GITS, Lajes, Azores, Portugal, 24 August 2001, archived from the original on 30 Oct 2022, page 11

8. To lose one's forward momentum; to freeze.
9. intransitivehobbiesTo (mistakenly) cause or have one of one's wheels to lock up (stop spinning).

   Twelve laps later, Leclerc locked up at the first chicane and clattered over the run-off area. Again, Hamilton got a run on him, and this time Leclerc defended robustly through the flat-out Curva Grande, moving very late to block Hamilton to the Ferrari's left.

   2019 September 8, Andrew Benson, BBC Sport

10. transitiveTo invest in something long term.
11. intransitiveboatingTo travel through a flight of locks on a waterway in an uphill direction.

    Antonyms: lock down

12. obsoletemediaTo fasten quoins securely with a mallet and a shooting stick.
13. slangtransitiveTo assure success in or control of (something).

    He locked up the championship with that move.

14. intransitiveTo enter a state of mechanical alignment.

    You will roll the second tape for about 15 seconds until the tape "locks up" with house sync.

    1994, Carl Hausman, Philip J. Palombo, Modern Video Production: Tools, Techniques, Applications (page 148)