Word.ws English Dictionary

throwing away the key

throwing away the key is the present participle and gerund 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 throwing away the key

What is throwing away the key the present participle and gerund of?
Throwing away the key is the present participle and gerund of throw away the key.

Words near throwing away the key in the dictionary

  1. throwing about
  2. throwing an ant into a sty
  3. throwing an eye
  4. throwing aside
  5. throwing away
  6. throwing away the key
  7. throwing ax
  8. throwing axe
  9. throwing axes
  10. throwing back
  11. throwing BBs

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: throwing 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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