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lock up

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lock

1  [lok]
Use lock up in a Sentence
–noun
1. a device for securing a door, gate, lid, drawer, or the like in position when closed, consisting of a bolt or system of bolts propelled and withdrawn by a mechanism operated by a key, dial, etc.
2. a contrivance for fastening or securing something.
3. (in a firearm)
a. the mechanism that explodes the charge; gunlock.
b. safety (def. 4).
4. any device or part for stopping temporarily the motion of a mechanism.
5. an enclosed chamber in a canal, dam, etc., with gates at each end, for raising or lowering vessels from one level to another by admitting or releasing water.
6. an air lock or decompression chamber.
7. complete and unchallenged control; an unbreakable hold: The congresswoman has a lock on the senatorial nomination.
8. Slang. someone or something certain of success; sure thing: He's a lock to win the championship.
9. Wrestling. any of various holds, esp. a hold secured on the arm, leg, or head: leg lock.
10. Horology. (in an escapement) the overlap between a tooth of an escape wheel and the surface of the pallet locking it.
11. Metalworking. a projection or recession in the mating face of a forging die.
–verb (used with object)
12. to fasten or secure (a door, window, building, etc.) by the operation of a lock or locks.
13. to shut in a place fastened by a lock or locks, as for security or restraint.
14. to make fast or immovable by or as if by a lock: He locked the steering wheel on his car.
15. to make fast or immovable, as by engaging parts: to lock the wheels of a wagon.
16. to join or unite firmly by interlinking or intertwining: to lock arms.
17. to hold fast in an embrace: She was locked in his arms.
18. to move (a ship) by means of a lock or locks, as in a canal (often fol. by through, in, out, down, or up).
19. to furnish with locks, as a canal.
–verb (used without object)
20. to become locked: This door locks with a key.
21. to become fastened, fixed, or interlocked: gears that lock into place.
22. to go or pass by means of a lock or locks, as a vessel.
23. to construct locks in waterways.
—Verb phrases
24. lock in,
a. to commit unalterably: to lock in the nomination of the party's candidates.
b. (of an investor) to be unable or unwilling to sell or shift securities.
25. lock off, to enclose (a waterway) with a lock.
26. lock on, to track or follow a target or object automatically by radar or other electronic means.
27. lock out,
a. to keep out by or as if by a lock.
b. to subject (employees) to a lockout.
28. lock up,
a. to imprison for a crime.
b. Printing. to make (type) immovable in a chase by securing the quoins.
c. to fasten or secure with a lock or locks.
d. to lock the doors of a house, automobile, etc.
e. to fasten or fix firmly, as by engaging parts.
—Idioms
29. lock horns, to come into conflict; clash: to lock horns with a political opponent.
30. lock, stock, and barrel, completely; entirely; including every part, item, or facet, no matter how small or insignificant: We bought the whole business, lock, stock, and barrel.
31. under lock and key, securely locked up: The documents were under lock and key.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME; OE loc fastening, bar; c. MLG lok, OHG loh, ON lok a cover, lid, Goth -luk in usluk opening; akin to OE lūcan to shut

Related forms:
lockless, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Word Origin & History

lock  (1)
"means of fastening," O.E. loc "bolt, fastening, enclosure," from P.Gmc. *lokom/*lukom (cf. O.N. lok "fastening, lock," Goth. usluks "opening," O.H.G. loh "dungeon," Ger. Loch "opening, hole," Du. luck "shutter, trapdoor"). "The great diversity of meaning in the Teut. words seems to indicate two or more independent but formally identical substantival formations from the root." The river sense is from c.1300, on notion of "barrier, enclosure." Wrestling sense is from 1608. The lock of a firearm (1547) probably so called for its resemblance to a door-latching device. Locksmith first attested 1226. Locker is c.1440, from M.E. lokken. The verb is c.1300, from O.E. lucan "to lock, to close" (class II strong verb; past tense leac, pp. locen). Slang lock horns "fight" is from 1839. Lock-up "detention cell for offenders" is from 1839.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

lock up

  1. 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]

  2. Invest in something not easily converted into cash, as in Most of their assets were locked up in real estate. [Late 1600s]

  3. lock someone up. Confine or imprison someone, as in The princes were locked up in the Tower of London. [c. 1300]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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