Locking up or down

LeedsRhinos | 05:18 Mon 04th Dec 2006 | Phrases & Sayings

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Why do prisons have a lock DOWN but my wife asks me if I have locked UP for the night?

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Quizmonster

The 'down' version is, I believe, an Americanism. Even the 'up' version hasn't been around for that long, the earliest recorded version of it dating back only to the start of the last century. Prior to that, the basic 'lock' sufficed.
We see the same apparent discrepancy in phrases such as 'slow up/slow down', both of which just mean 'slow'.

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