lockdown UK /ˈlɒkˌdaʊn/US /ˈlɑkˌdaʊn/ noun2 •The confinement of people in their own rooms (e.g., in a school) or cells (in a prison), or to their own homes or areas (e.g., in the case of a city- or nation-wide issue) as a security measure after or amid a disturbance or as a non-pharmaceutical intervention in a pandemic. •(US) A contrivance to fasten logs together in rafting.The rafts were made up of strings of logs about seventeen feet wide, held together by poles across them. Each log was pinned to the poles by wooden pegs and lockdowns. — 1931 formslockdownists · lockdowns