noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A jail cell; a period of incarceration in such a cell; a facility containing such cells. countable, slang, uncountable

   "He's in lockup for 30 days for drunk and disorderly."

2. 2
   the act of locking something up to protect it wordnet
3. 3
   A storage unit with a door secured by a padlock or deadbolt; a garage. UK, countable, uncountable

   "Joe keeps his other car in a lockup downtown."

4. 4
   jail in a local police station wordnet
5. 5
   A condition in which one or more of a vehicle's wheels suddenly cease to rotate due to the application of excessive brake torque, causing the affected wheel(s) to skid. countable, uncountable

Show 3 more definitions

6. 6
   A condition where a system stops responding to inputs; a freeze. countable, uncountable
7. 7
   A device for locking type into position for printing. countable, historical, uncountable
8. 8
   A fixed layout involving one or more logos and possibly related text. broadly, countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

bastillebinblack holeborstalborstal institutionbridewell

Example

More examples

"He's in lockup for 30 days for drunk and disorderly."

Etymology

Deverbal from lock up.

Related phrases

lockup housejail cell

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.