Word.ws English Dictionary

throw away the key

throw away the key verb: to never release someone (e.g., from prison).

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

Forms of throw away the key

third-person singular presentthrows away the key
present participlethrowing away the key
pastthrew away the key
past participlethrown away the key

Origin of throw away the key

An ellipsis of lock someone up and throw away the key.

Questions about throw away the key

What does throw away the key mean?
Throw away the key means to never release someone (e.g., from prison).
What part of speech is throw away the key?
Throw away the key is a verb.
What is the past tense of throw away the key?
The past tense of throw away the key is threw away the key.

Words near throw away the key in the dictionary

  1. throw about
  2. throw an ant into a sty
  3. throw an eye
  4. throw aside
  5. throw away
  6. throw away the key
  7. throw back
  8. throw bag
  9. throw bags
  10. throw BBs
  11. throw blanket

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: 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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