lock up
English edit
Etymology edit
Verb edit
lock up (third-person singular simple present locks up, present participle locking up, simple past and past participle locked up)
- (transitive) To imprison or incarcerate (someone).
- 2020 July 23, Chris Daw, “'A stain on national life': why are we locking up so many children?'”, in The Guardian[1]:
- 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.
- (transitive) To put (something) away in a locked location for safekeeping; (occasionally, chiefly humorously) to sequester (a person) in a similar way.
- Hyponym: lock away
- Please lock up all valuables in the safe before leaving.
- Angus is back in town! Better lock up your daughters, your wife, and your sheep!
- (intransitive) To close all doors and windows (of a place) securely.
- Coordinate term: lock down
- (intransitive, computing) To cease responding.
- (transitive, computing) To 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.
- (intransitive, mechanics) To stop moving; to seize.
- (of a wheel) To stop spinning due to excessive braking torque.
- 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[2], archived from the original on 30 October 2022, page 11:
- 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.
- (of a wheel) To stop spinning due to excessive braking torque.
- To lose one's forward momentum; to freeze.
- (intransitive, motor racing) To (mistakenly) cause or have one of one's wheels to lock up (stop spinning).
- 2019 September 8, Andrew Benson, BBC Sport[3]:
- 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.
- (transitive) To invest in something long term.
- (intransitive, boating) To travel through a flight of locks on a waterway in an uphill direction.
- Antonym: lock down
- Hypernym: lock through
Derived terms edit
- lock someone up and throw away the key
- lockup (noun)
- lock-up (noun)
Related terms edit
- (invest in something): lockaway (noun)
Translations edit
to imprison or incarcerate someone
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to close the doors and windows securely
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of a computer: to cease responding
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