Word.ws English Dictionary

doing one's own time

doing one's own time is the present participle of do one's own time.

Meaning of do one's own time

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)

  1. (idiomatic, informal) 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

Questions about doing one's own time

What is doing one's own time the present participle of?
Doing one's own time is the present participle of do one's own time.

Words near doing one's own time in the dictionary

  1. doing one's ease
  2. doing one's easement
  3. doing one's homework
  4. doing one's job
  5. doing one's own thing
  6. doing one's own time
  7. doing one's part
  8. doing one's stuff
  9. doing one's sums
  10. doing one's thing
  11. doing one's utmost

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: doing one's own time (page history and authors); 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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