seize up

verb

Etymology: The term originates c. 1870 referring to a machine which jammed up because of excessive heat or friction; it has been used figuratively since c. 1950.

1. To stop functioning; to come to a halt.

   “Iceland's foreign currency market has seized up after the three largest banks collapsed.”

   “In the 2004 film A Day Without a Mexican, Sergio Arau imagines, in mockumentary style, what would happen to California if its entire Mexican-immigrant population vanished. With so many housekeepers and farmworkers, teachers and gardeners, line cooks and police gone, the state seizes up.”

2. To stiffen or become tight and difficult to move.

   “It was hard to write as my fingers had seized up with the cold weather.”

   “I have had over six years to think about my future and it does not look good. I … can expect no cure or improvement in my condition as my muscles and joints seize up through lack of use.”

3. To stop working suddenly, and become impossible to start again.

   “My car seized up this morning. So I had to catch the bus.”