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.
The deal offered an early window into Nvidia’s strategy to look beyond the GPU to lock up pockets of the AI market.
Amina says some of her staff were locked up for a few days more than five years ago.
From BBC
“Yes,” Grandpa said, nodding his head, “that’s a promise. Now, you’d better be on your way. I have to lock up the store and get my chores done.”
From Literature
The next step was to find a tower—I was sure Opal would be locked up in one.
From Literature
He had been locked up for 13 months.
From Barron's
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.
