Locked gate
A barrier between two places, fastened shut — entry refused at the line between out and in.
A locked gate in a dream is the dream's image of entry refused at the exact line between out and in. The gate is not a wall; the gate marks a passage that exists, and the lock says that passage is not available to you now. The dream brings the locked gate when something in your life — a community, a property, a stage of relationship, a piece of self-understanding — has a boundary you have arrived at and have been denied at. A locked gate where the key is being asked for politely is the dream telling you the threshold is real and the question is whether you have what entry requires. A locked gate you try to climb or break, with the keeper inside, is the dream noting that the refusal is being treated as illegitimate, and the cost of forcing the gate is now part of what it will mean if you do eventually go in.