do one's own time
do one's own time verb: to serve a prison sentence without becoming involved in any illicit dealings or prison gangs.
Verb
do one's own time (third-person singular simple present does one's own time, present participle doing one's own time, simple past did one's own time, past participle done one's own time)
- To serve a prison sentence without becoming involved in any illicit dealings or prison gangs.
- He did his own time, minded his own business.2009, Caryl Chessman, Cell 2455, Death Row: A Condemned Man's Own Story
- But typically, if an inmate just minded his own business and did his own time, he could usually stay out of serious trouble.2011, James A. Goble, My Own Worst Enemy, page 171
Forms of do one's own time
| third-person singular present | does one's own time |
|---|---|
| present participle | doing one's own time |
| past | did one's own time |
| past participle | done one's own time |
Questions about do one's own time
- What does do one's own time mean?
- Do one's own time means to serve a prison sentence without becoming involved in any illicit dealings or prison gangs.
- What part of speech is do one's own time?
- Do one's own time is a verb.
- What is the past tense of do one's own time?
- The past tense of do one's own time is did one's own time.
Words near do one's own time in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: do one's own time (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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