lo ck-up (lock-ups ) also lockup
1 N‑COUNT A lock-up is the same as a jail . [AM , INFORMAL ]
2 N‑COUNT A lock-up is a garage that is used by someone, but is not next to their house. [BRIT ] ● ADJ [ADJ n] Lock-up is also an adjective. □ …a lock-up garage.
lo|co|mo|tion /loʊ kəmoʊ ʃ ə n/ N‑UNCOUNT Locomotion is the ability to move and the act of moving from one place to another. [FORMAL ] □ Flight is the form of locomotion that puts the greatest demands on muscles.
lo|co|mo|tive /loʊ kəmoʊ t I v/ (locomotives ) N‑COUNT A locomotive is a large vehicle that pulls a railway train. [FORMAL ]
lo|cum /loʊ kəm/ (locums ) N‑COUNT A locum is a doctor or priest who does the work for another doctor or priest who is ill or on holiday. [mainly BRIT ]
lo|cus /loʊ kəs/ (loci ) N‑COUNT [usu sing] The locus of something is the place where it happens or the most important area or point with which it is associated. [FORMAL ] □ [+ of ] Barcelona is the locus of Spanish industry.
lo|cust /loʊ kəst/ (locusts ) N‑COUNT Locusts are large insects that live mainly in hot countries. They fly in large groups and eat crops.
lodge /lɒ dʒ/ (lodges , lodging , lodged )
1 N‑COUNT A lodge is a house or hut in the country or in the mountains where people stay on holiday, especially when they want to shoot or fish. □ …a Victorian hunting lodge. □ …a ski lodge.
2 N‑COUNT A lodge is a small house at the entrance to the grounds of a large house. □ I drove out of the gates, past the keeper's lodge.
3 N‑COUNT In some organizations, a lodge is a local branch or meeting place of the organization. □ My father would occasionally go to his Masonic lodge.
4 VERB If you lodge a complaint, protest, accusation, or claim, you officially make it. □ [V n] He has four weeks in which to lodge an appeal.
5 VERB If you lodge somewhere, such as in someone else's house or if you are lodged there, you live there, usually paying rent. □ [V prep/adv] …the story of the farming family she lodged with as a young teacher. □ [be V -ed prep/adv] The building he was lodged in turned out to be a church.
6 VERB If someone lodges you somewhere, they give you a place to stay, for example because they are responsible for your safety or comfort. □ [V n prep/adv] They lodged the delegates in different hotels.
7 VERB If an object lodges somewhere, it becomes stuck there. □ [V prep/adv] The bullet lodged in the sergeant's leg, shattering his thigh bone. □ [V -ed] His car has a bullet lodged in the passenger door.
8 → see also lodging
lodg|er /lɒ dʒə r / (lodgers ) N‑COUNT A lodger is a person who pays money to live in someone else's house. □ Jennie took in a lodger to help with the mortgage.
lodg|ing /lɒ dʒ I ŋ/ (lodgings )
1 N‑UNCOUNT If you are provided with lodging or lodgings , you are provided with a place to stay for a period of time. You can use lodgings to refer to one or more of these places. □ [+ in ] He was given free lodging in a three-room flat. □ …travel expenses including meals and lodgings while traveling away from home.
2 N‑COUNT [usu pl] If you live in lodgings , you live in a room or rooms in someone's house and you pay them for this. □ David had changed his lodgings, leaving no address behind.
3 → see also board and lodging
lo dg|ing house (lodging houses ) N‑COUNT A lodging house is a house where people can rent rooms to live in or stay in. [mainly BRIT ] in AM, usually use rooming house
loft /lɒ ft, [AM ] lɔː ft/ (lofts )
1 N‑COUNT A loft is the space inside the sloping roof of a house or other building, where things are sometimes stored. □ A loft conversion can add considerably to the value of a house.
2 N‑COUNT A loft is an apartment in the upper part of a building, especially a building such as a warehouse or factory that has been converted for people to live in. Lofts are usually large and not divided into separate rooms.
lofty /lɒ fti, [AM ] lɔː f-/ (loftier , loftiest )
1 ADJ [usu ADJ n] A lofty ideal or ambition is noble, important, and admirable. □ It was a bank that started out with grand ideas and lofty ideals.
2 ADJ [usu ADJ n] A lofty building or room is very high. [FORMAL ] □ …a light, lofty apartment in the suburbs of Salzburg.
3 ADJ [usu ADJ n] If you say that someone behaves in a lofty way, you are critical of them for behaving in a proud and rather unpleasant way, as if they think they are very important. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …the lofty disdain he often expresses for his profession. □ …lofty contempt.
log /lɒ g, [AM ] lɔː g/ (logs , logging , logged )
1 N‑COUNT [oft N n] A log is a piece of a thick branch or of the trunk of a tree that has been cut so that it can be used for fuel or for making things. □ He dumped the logs on the big stone hearth. □ …the original log cabin where Lincoln was born.
2 N‑COUNT A log is an official written account of what happens each day, for example on board a ship. □ The family made an official complaint to a ship's officer, which was recorded in the log.
3 VERB If you log an event or fact, you record it officially in writing or on a computer. □ [be V -ed] Details of the crime are then logged in the computer.
4 → see also logging