lock-up
lock-up — phrasal verb
1. to close and fasten all the locks on the entrances and windows of a building, ma
to close and fasten all the locks on the entrances and windows of a building, making it safe when nobody is inside
Élise always locks up the shop before she goes home for the night.
lock up + shop / office / house (building nouns)
The last person to leave the office should lock up and set the alarm.
intransitive use: “lock up” without an object
Ziad reminded his roommate to lock the apartment up before going to bed.
After the burglary, every shop on the street started locking up at six o’clock.
文法句型
lock up [noun phrase]
lock [noun phrase] up
lock up (intransitive)
用法筆記
Can be used without an object when the building is clear from context (“Who locked up last night?”). The object (the name of the building) often goes between “lock” and “up” in short sentences: “lock the house up” or “lock up the house.”
常見錯誤
2. to put someone in prison or in a confined space such as a cell, so that they can
to put someone in prison or in a confined space such as a cell, so that they cannot leave
The judge ordered that the burglar be locked up for at least three years.
passive: “be locked up for [duration]”
In some countries, journalists are still locked up for reporting the truth.
passive: “be locked up for [reason]”
Prison guards locked Femi up in a tiny cell with no window for three days.
Hiro was afraid the police would lock him up just for asking questions.
- imprison
more formal and official; used in legal writing
- incarcerate
very formal; used in official or academic contexts
- jail
similar register; common in news reporting (“He was jailed for five years”)
文法句型
lock [someone] up
be locked up
be locked up in [place]
be locked up for [crime / duration]
用法筆記
Commonly used in the passive voice (“was locked up”) when the police or authorities are the understood but unstated subject. In informal contexts, can also refer to restricting someone to a room (“They locked the child up in her bedroom as punishment”), but the primary meaning is imprisonment.
常見錯誤
3. to store something valuable, important, or dangerous inside a lockable container
to store something valuable, important, or dangerous inside a lockable container or room so that it cannot be stolen or accessed by others
Anong took off her wedding ring and locked it up in her bedside drawer.
lock [thing] up in [container]
The lawyer told us to lock up the original contracts in a fireproof safe.
lock up + documents / contracts / valuables
Imran locked up all the cleaning chemicals so the toddlers could not reach them.
Before leaving the hotel room, Yael locked her passport up in the safe.
- take out
to remove something from its locked storage
文法句型
lock up [noun phrase]
lock [noun phrase] up
lock [noun phrase] up in [container]
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1 (SECURE BUILDING) — sense 3 refers to putting a specific item inside a lockable space, not to securing an entire building. The preposition “in” is frequently used to specify the container: “lock up the money in a box.”
常見錯誤
4. to invest money in a way that makes it impossible or very costly to get the cash
to invest money in a way that makes it impossible or very costly to get the cash back before a fixed date
The pension plan locks up workers’ savings until they turn sixty.
lock up + savings / capital / funds
Folake was warned that the new fund would lock her money up for at least five years.
lock [money] up for [duration]
Christopher did not want to lock up all his cash in real estate.
Investors who lock up their capital in long-term bonds cannot access it during an emergency.
文法句型
lock up [money / capital]
be locked up in [investment]
lock [money] up for [period]
用法筆記
Restricted to formal financial contexts. The subject is usually a financial product (fund, plan, bond) or an investor. Never refers to physical locking — the “lock” here is metaphorical, describing a contractual restriction on withdrawing money.