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seize up
Idioms and Phrases
Come to a halt, as in The peace talks seized up and were not rescheduled . Originally, from about 1870 on, this term was applied to a machine of some kind that jammed or locked, owing to excessive heat or friction. Its figurative use dates from about 1950.Example Sentences
Her arms seize up and she struggles to raise them above her shoulders.
Everywhere, once familiar and trusted systems seize up and crumble.
The problems at the Panama Canal, an engineering marvel that opened in 1914 and handles an estimated 5 percent of seaborne trade, is the latest example of how crucial parts of global supply chains can suddenly seize up.
It could even prove fatal, causing the predator’s muscles to seize up, preventing it from moving forward and pushing oxygenated water into its gills.
The disease has caused his spine “to seize up and freeze completely solid,” the suit says, adding that he is in chronic pain and is not able to move his head in any direction.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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