the.com/lockdown
Lockdowns confined people to their homes to slow the spread of disease or contain danger.
means A government or institutional order confining people to their homes (or confining a facility) to contain a threat, usually a disease outbreak or security danger.
from Born in American prison vocabulary — a 'lockdown' was the drastic measure of locking every inmate in their cell, halting all movement, after a riot or violent incident. The phrase spread outward through the 20th century to schools (lockdown drills) and eventually, in 2020, to entire nations, as 'shelter in place' orders borrowed the prison term for confining a whole population to their homes.
- origin
- Prison term for restricting inmate movement
- 2020 edition
- Applied to entire countries, with houseplants
- sourdough era
- Flour sales spiked harder than anxiety levels
- etymology plot twist
- Now also means engaged, married, locked down romantically