From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlock somebody/something ↔ away phrasal verb1 SHUT/CLOSEto put something in a safe place and lock the door, lid etc SYN lock up He locked his money away in the safe.2 KEEP somebody IN A PLACEto put someone in prison SYN lock up I hope they lock him away for years.3 lock yourself away to keep yourself separate from other people by staying in your room, office etc → lock→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
lock away• I've had to get a padlock to lock it away.• If Eisen was actually in New York, she had an added reason for locking herself away.• If I buy three tins of beans I lock two away.• Make backup copies of your data, and lock them away.• His aristocratic family was so against his religious pursuits they locked him away for fifteen months.• It was part of the real treasure of mankind, more valuable than all the gold locked uselessly away in bank vaults.• He locked the envelope away in his cupboard beside Doctor Jekyll's will.• If you can't lock ladders away inside, chain and padlock them horizontally to a fixed point.lock yourself away• If Eisen was actually in New York, she had an added reason for locking herself away.• It got to the stage where she would lock herself away and not talk to me, or else have endless arguments.• At other times he suffers periods of deep depression when he locks himself away and will speak to no-one for weeks.• Morrissey, in particular, would lock himself away behind a shield of management statements and subsequent verbal minders.• He ought to lock himself away from them.From Longman Business Dictionarylock something → away phrasal verb [transitive]FINANCE to invest money in such a way that it is not available to be usedSYNlock upHe didn’t want to lock the money away in a ten-year Treasury note. → lock→ See Verb table 