Verb
(figuratively) To stop functioning; to come to a halt.
Iceland's foreign currency market has seized up after the three largest banks collapsed.
Synonyms: freeze, freeze up, grind to a halt
(of muscles) To stiffen or become tight and difficult to move.
It was hard to write as my fingers had seized up with the cold weather.
(of a machine) To stop working suddenly, and become impossible to start again.
My car seized up this morning. So I had to catch the bus.
seize-up
Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up. Jane Yolen
The market can quickly seize up. Prices don't adjust in a smooth continuous fashion, but instead abruptly reconfigure themselves, like the earth's crust during an earthquake. David Orrell