lockup

noun

lock·​up ˈläk-ˌəp 

1

: jail

especially : a local jail where persons are detained prior to court hearing

2

: an act of locking : the state of being locked

Synonyms

• bastille
• big house [slang]
• bridewell
• brig
• calaboose
• can
• clink [slang]
• cooler
• coop
• guardroom
• hock
• hold
• hoosegow
• jail
• jailhouse
• joint [slang]
• jug
• nick [British slang]
• pen
• penitentiary
• pokey [slang]
• prison
• quod [British slang]
• slam
• slammer
• stir [slang]
• stockade
• tolbooth [Scottish]

Examples of lockup in a Sentence

the firm conviction that juvenile offenders should never be held in adult lockups

Recent Examples on the Web

Thus, the risk of the lockup’s end creating lower lows ended, making that decline a one-time event. —John S. Tobey, Forbes.com, 24 June 2025

These insiders are free to sell once the lockup expires, typically causing the shares to drop or become more volatile. —Luisa Beltran, Fortune, 23 June 2025

Minaya’s lawyers essentially called the contraband a necessary reality in MDC Brooklyn, pointing out that guards found the weapon last November, just a few months after a string of violent attacks and two murders at the troubled Sunset Park lockup. —John Annese, New York Daily News, 22 June 2025

And would the debacle bring change to a jail that had seemingly failed to turn the page on the city’s long-struggling lockups? —Chris Kenning, USA Today, 17 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1746, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for lockup

• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• makeup
• markup
• pickup

Kids Definition

lockup

noun

lock·​up -ˌəp 

: prison sense 2, jail

Legal Definition

lockup

noun

lock·​up

1

: a cell or group of cells (as in a courthouse) or jail where persons are held prior to a court hearing compare house of correction, house of detention, jail, penitentiary, prison

2

: the tactic of arranging with a friendly party an option to buy a valuable portion of one's corporate assets in order to discourage a takeover by another party