LOCK IN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lock in mean? 

• LOCK IN (verb)
  The verb LOCK IN has 2 senses:

1. close with or as if with a tight seal

2. place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape

  Familiarity information: LOCK IN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LOCK IN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Close with or as if with a tight seal

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

lock in; seal in

Context example:

This vacuum pack locks in the flavor!

Hypernyms (to "lock in" is one way to...):

confine (prevent from leaving or from being removed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Place in a place where something cannot be removed or someone cannot escape

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

lock; lock away; lock in; lock up; put away; shut away; shut up

Context example:

She locked her jewels in the safe

Hypernyms (to "lock in" is one way to...):

confine (prevent from leaving or from being removed)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody PP
Somebody ----s something PP

 Context examples 

My heart beat thick, my head grew hot; a sound filled my ears, which I deemed the rushing of wings; something seemed near me; I was oppressed, suffocated: endurance broke down; I rushed to the door and shook the lock in desperate effort.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Too soon did she find herself at the drawing-room door; and after pausing a moment for what she knew would not come, for a courage which the outside of no door had ever supplied to her, she turned the lock in desperation, and the lights of the drawing-room, and all the collected family, were before her.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)