throw away the key

verb

throw away the key

verb

Etymology An ellipsis of lock someone up and throw 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:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.