seize up

verb

• To stop functioning; to come to a halt.

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

• (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."