lock up

• lock-up

lock + up

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:

     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.
      • 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 October 2022, retrieved 5 December 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.

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:

     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

• (computing): freeze, hang

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