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lockup

lockup

38 5.5
A small room in a police station where police keep people temporarily
  • noun
  • /ˈlɑːkʌp/
: calabozo
  • The police took him to the lockup until his hearing the next morning.
  • a police lockup
  • jails and lockups
  • a county lockup

They're in there paying protection or they're in lockup.

Examples

  • I just got out of three years of lockup.

  • Margo Wallace has been arrested and is being led into the women's lockup.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • "What sort of place is this lockup of yours?"

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Now, which one of you wanna spend the night in county lockup?

  • Direct from the police lockup.

  • You've been in lockup for 15 years.

  • Son, you know where the Fayetteville lockup is?

  • Wentworth had spent only one night in Central Lockup, but that was quite enough.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • After they'd been allowed to call their husbands, they were put into the police station lockup.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • More than 700 youths are in state lockups on any given day.

    Blog text (26)

Synonyms

cell
vslockup
618 5.6

A small room in a prison or police station where a prisoner is held

is similar but can also mean a small building used for short detention
police station
vslockup
189 1.0

A building where police work, hold arrested people, and take crime reports

is specifically the small detention area or building inside that facility
jail cell
vslockup
47 1.5

A small room in a prison where guards keep prisoners

is used more for very short stays at a local law facility
holding cell
vslockup
39 4.1

A secure room in a police station where people wait briefly before going to court

is the small station room or building used for brief official detention
jailhouse
vslockup
37 4.1

A building where police keep people who are waiting for trial or serving a sentence

is a smaller part or specific room within such detention buildings
prison cell
vslockup
34 2.7

A small locked room in jail for holding a person

is for short holding close to police work rather than long sentences
slammer
vslockup
  • Slang
29 9.8

A prison or jail where people are kept after arrest

is the formal small station room or building for temporary custody
detention cell
vslockup
3 4.4

A large room in a jail or police station where officers keep several people for a short time

is smaller and more like a short term local detention space

Antonyms

∞ 1.0

The right to act, speak, or think as you want without being stopped

282 1.8

An act of letting someone or something go free from being held

How Secure

supermax
  • Specialized
4 7.9
penitentiary
  • US
72 7.9
prison
∞ 1.0
jailhouse
37 4.1
lockup
38 5.5
holding cell
39 4.1

Surface Forms

lockup singular
lockups plural

Morphology

lockup = lock + up (semi-transparent) = lock + up

The detention sense comes from the familiar phrase 'lock up' meaning confine, but the noun 'lockup' is a specialized institutional meaning rather than a fully literal one.

Etymology

Lockup comes from the phrase lock ('to close with a key') plus up ('fully'), used when someone is 'locked up' by the police. So, a lockup is a small place where people are kept for a short time after arrest.