lock up

See also: lockup and lock-up

English

Alternative forms

• lock-up

Etymology

lock + up

Verb

lock up (third-person singular simple present locks up, present participle locking up, simple past and past participle locked up)

1. (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.

2. (transitive) To invest in something long term.
3. (intransitive) To close all doors and windows (of a place) securely.
4. (intransitive, computing) To cease responding; to freeze.

   When I press this button, the program locks up.

5. (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.

6. (intransitive, mechanics) To stop moving; to seize.
   1. (of a wheel) To stop spinning due to excessive braking torque.
7. To lose one's forward momentum; to freeze.
8. (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^[2]:

     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.

9. (intransitive, boating) To travel through a flight of locks on a waterway in an uphill direction.

   Antonym: lock down

Synonyms

• (computing): freeze, hang

Related terms

• lockup

Translations

to imprison or incarcerate someone

• Bulgarian: затваря́м (bg) (zatvarjám)
• Finnish: vangita (fi)
• French: enfermer (fr)
• German: einschließen (de), einsperren (de), wegschließen (de)
• Ido: enceluligar (io)

• Italian: imprigionare (it), incarcerare (it), rinchiudere (it)
• Japanese: 閉じ込める (とじこめる, tojikomeru)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: inclūdō
• Portuguese: prender (pt)
• Russian: запира́ть (ru) impf (zapirátʹ), запере́ть (ru) pf (zaperétʹ)
• Spanish: encerrar (es)

to close the doors and windows securely

• Armenian: կողպել (hy) (kołpel), փակել (hy) (pʿakel)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 鎖上 (zh), 锁上 (zh) (suǒshàng), 鎖定 (zh), 锁定 (zh) (suǒdìng)

• Finnish: lukita (fi)
• French: verrouiller (fr)
• German: abschließen (de), absperren (de), zusperren (de)

• Italian: bloccare (it), serrare (it)
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Maori: tāmau
• Russian: запира́ть (ru) impf (zapirátʹ), запере́ть (ru) pf (zaperétʹ)
• Spanish: cerrar (es), trancar (es)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can

of a computer: to cease responding

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: hyytyä (fi), jumittua (fi)
• French: se bloquer (fr)
• German: sich aufhängen

• Italian: bloccarsi, impallarsi
• Portuguese: travar (pt)
• Russian: ви́снуть (ru) impf (vísnutʹ), зави́снуть (ru) pf (zavísnutʹ)
• Spanish: colgarse (es), bloquearse (es), trancarse (es)
• Swedish: frysa (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can

Anagrams

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