Word.ws English Dictionary

threw away the key

threw away the key is the simple past of throw away the key.

Meaning of throw away the key

Verb

throw away the key (third-person singular simple present throws away the key, present participle throwing away the key, simple past threw away the key, past participle thrown away the key)

  1. (idiomatic, slang) To never release someone (e.g., from prison).
    • Let's get these men together in a room and I would suggest feed them bread and water and throw away the key until they come together1995 November 19, “Senators Pete Domenici and John Breaux Discuss the Shutdown of the Federal Government”, in CBS Face Nation

Questions about threw away the key

What is threw away the key the simple past of?
Threw away the key is the simple past of throw away the key.

Words near threw away the key in the dictionary

  1. threw about
  2. threw an ant into a sty
  3. threw an eye
  4. threw aside
  5. threw away
  6. threw away the key
  7. threw back
  8. threw BBs
  9. threw by
  10. threw caution to the wind
  11. threw cold water on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: threw away the key (page history and authors); throw away the key (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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