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

The men were sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, a lockup known for allegations of human rights abuses. —Didi Martinez, NBC News, 19 Mar. 2025

Inmates at Collins Correctional Facility, one of the places where the strike started, were being bussed to other lockups. —Graham Rayman, New York Daily News, 25 Feb. 2025

Immigration officials hold around 40,000 detainees in private prisons and local county lockups across the United States. —Hamed Aleaziz, New York Times, 6 Feb. 2025

Prosecutors hammered him for breaking rules in jail, saying if Combs can’t be trusted in lockup, then he certainly can’t be trusted out on bail — no matter what measures were taken to keep the rapper in check. —Victoria Bekiempis, Vulture, 22 Nov. 2024

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