From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlock up phrasal verb1 SHUT/CLOSEto make a building safe by locking the doors, especially at night I’ll leave you to lock up.lock something ↔ up Don’t forget to lock up the warehouse.2 lock something ↔ upSHUT/CLOSE to put something in a safe place and lock the door, lid etc SYN lock away3 lock somebody ↔ up to put someone in prison SYN lock away Rapists should be locked up.4 be locked up (in something)MONEY if your money is locked up, you have put it into a business, investment etc and cannot easily move it or use it → lock→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
lock up• He always keeps his desk locked up.• You should take basic precautions like locking your car up.• It costs $23,000 a year to lock up an adult.• Rapists deserve to be locked up for the rest of their lives.• Locking up more criminals has helped to reduce the crime rate and produce safer streets.• I had locked up my office for the night and gone home.be locked up (in something)• That's what Lee had gone home to check, that Caspar was locked up.• All the back-benchers lit Parliament were locked up along with the six ministers at State House.• I was locked up for nine years, you know that?• Much more was locked up in that house than the storeroom at its core.• His fa-ther was locked up somewhere in a place called Applegate.• It was locked up somewhere round at the back.lock-upˈlock-up noun [countable] 1 PRISONa small prison where a criminal can be kept for a short time2 (also lock-up garage) British English a garage that you can rent to keep cars, goods etc inExamples from the Corpus
lock-up• In deference to his age, however, they did not put him in lock-up.• They had taken their instruments with them to the lock-up.• He looked back and listened to the pounding on the door, until the lock-up was out of sight.From Longman Business Dictionarylock something → up phrasal verb [transitive]FINANCE to invest money or keep it in such a way that it not available to be usedSYNlock awayMutual funds are an appropriate vehicle for income-seeking investors who don’t want to lock their money up. → see also lock-up → lock→ See Verb tablelock-upˈlock-up adjectiveFINANCE1lock-up agreement/pact an agreement by which money is invested in such a way that it cannot be used for a period of time2lock-up period a period of time during which money is invested in such a way that it cannot be used 