From barges to barricades: the changing meaning of `lockdown`
(The Guardian Culture News)

How did canal terminology become a word for enforced isolation?Countries around the world have gone into `lockdown` to slow the spread of coronavirus, though some lockdowns are more permeable than others, and no one has yet been forcibly barricaded inside their homes. So why `lockdown` in the first place?`Lock` is an old Germanic word for a lock or other fastening mechanism, or a space enclosed by such a mechanism, which is why a lock in modern English is also a barrier in a canal. To `lock in` (a person in a chamber) or to `lock up` (originally the chamber or door itself) date from the 15th and 16th centuries, but a `lockdown` is much more recent. Continue reading...