lock down

See also: lock-down and lockdown

English

lock down (third-person singular simple present locks down, present participle locking down, simple past and past participle locked down)

(transitive) To secure (something).
Coordinate terms: lock away, lock in, lock out, lock up
- 2020 July 15, Drachinifel, 46:43 from the start, in The Battle of Jutland - Clash of the Titans - Part 1 (Beatty vs Hipper)‎^[1], archived from the original on 3 October 2024:
  But even as the fireball races both skywards and downwards, the mortally-wounded Major Francis Harvey, Royal Marines, crawls over to a voicepipe despite the loss of both legs and orders the magazines locked down and flooded. It's his last act on this Earth; his body will be found later, next to the voicepipe.
1. To blockade and lock (e.g. a building or campus) so as to prevent ingress or egress; to make the occupants (of an area) stay locked indoors for their safety.
  Police have the area locked down until the situation is all-clear.
2. (transitive) To limit the use of (a computer network) to only users with permission.
(transitive) To make (an arrangement) secure, definite, or permanent; to fix.
(transitive, slang) To cause (another person) to enter into an exclusive romantic relationship.
It took me some time, but I finally locked her down.
(intransitive, boating) To travel through a flight of locks on a waterway in a downhill direction.
Antonym: lock up

Hypernym: lock through

to secure; make people stay locked indoors for their safety