Idiom
throw away the key
Meaning
To never release someone (e.g., from prison).
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The judge sentenced him to life and threw away the key.”
“The jury found the criminal guilty of such a terrible crime that the judge decided to throw away the key.”
“After the defendant was convicted of the heinous act, the court ensured he would remain incarcerated forever by effectively throwing away the key.”
Examples
simple
“The judge sentenced him to life and threw away the key.”
contextual
“The jury found the criminal guilty of such a terrible crime that the judge decided to throw away the key.”
complex
“After the defendant was convicted of the heinous act, the court ensured he would remain incarcerated forever by effectively throwing away the key.”
Origin
An ellipsis of the fuller phrase "lock someone up and throw away the key," denoting a permanent state of incarceration. The construction assumes the finality of a lock that can no longer be operated.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated