box and lock
box and lock verb: to suppress or hide (something) so that it is not readily available or capable of action.
Verb
box and lock (third-person singular simple present boxes and locks, present participle boxing and locking, simple past and past participle boxed and locked)
- To suppress or hide (something) so that it is not readily available or capable of action.
- Structural racism and its monopolies have "boxed and locked” Black people.2000, Claud Anderson, PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America, page 25
- Eventually, the belief becomes boxed and locked away from general access.2006, Tim Gooding, The Emergence of Us, page 106
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see box, lock.
Forms of box and lock
| third-person singular present | boxes and locks |
|---|---|
| present participle | boxing and locking |
| past participle | boxed and locked |
| past | boxed and locked |
Origin of box and lock
From the directive to keep firearms in a box that is locked so that they are only available under considered circumstances and to authorized users.
Questions about box and lock
- What does box and lock mean?
- Box and lock means to suppress or hide (something) so that it is not readily available or capable of action.
- What part of speech is box and lock?
- Box and lock is a verb.
- What is the past tense of box and lock?
- The past tense of box and lock is boxed and locked.
Words near box and lock in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: box and lock (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this entry: “box and lock.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/box_and_lock. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.