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Glite Dictionary
to lock up and toss the key

to lock up and toss the key

9.3
Put someone in prison and never let them leave
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : encerrar y tirar la llave
  • If he keeps causing trouble, they’ll have to lock him up and toss the key.

Examples

  • She joked that her rowdy teenagers should be locked up and the key tossed until they calm down.

  • Some people think corrupt politicians should be locked up and tossed the key.

  • Don't lock up and toss the key on my dreams!

  • He always jokes about wanting to lock up and toss the key on his stress.

  • If he keeps causing trouble, they’ll have to lock him up and toss the key.

  • She joked that her rowdy teenagers should be locked up and tossed the key until they calm down.

  • Some people think corrupt politicians should be locked up and toss the key forever.

Synonyms

to lock up
vsto lock up and toss the key
300 4.0

Put someone or something in a place where they cannot leave, for example a jail

leans toward permanent, hopeless confinement rather than temporary securing
to imprison
vsto lock up and toss the key
  • Formal
178 4.2

Put someone in prison as a punishment or keep them locked up

focuses on punishment but adds permanent, hopeless imprisonment
to put away
vsto lock up and toss the key
115 5.8

To lock someone in prison or a secure place

adds the idea of permanent, hopeless confinement rather than general incarceration
to lock away
vsto lock up and toss the key
32 3.4

Put someone or something somewhere they cannot leave and others cannot reach

stresses permanent, hopeless imprisonment rather than safety or temporary holding
to throw away the key
vsto lock up and toss the key
  • Informal
12 8.8

Put someone in prison for life with no hope of release

expresses the same permanent imprisonment with a lighter, humorous tone
to lock him up and throw away the key
vsto lock up and toss the key
  • Informal
2 9.5

Put someone in prison and never let them out

is the same idea but used more jokingly or figuratively

Antonyms

release
279 1.8

An act of letting someone or something go free from being held

to set free
218 2.7

To let a person or animal go after keeping them in a place where they could not leave

How Confined

to lock up and toss the key
  • Informal
9.3
to imprison
  • Formal
178 4.2
to lock up
300 4.0
to detain
  • Formal
169 5.9

Surface Forms

lock up and toss the key infinitive
locked up and tossed the key past
locked up and tossed the key past participle
locking up and tossing the key present participle
locks up and tosses the key third person singular

Morphology

lock + up + and + toss + the + key

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'lock (up)' conveys securing or imprisoning and 'toss the key' literally means to discard the means of release, so together they predict permanent or irreversible confinement. The concrete image of locking something and throwing away the key is cross-linguistically common and follows straightforward compositional logic, so a B1 learner who knows the words would likely infer the intended meaning.

Etymology

Lock up and toss the key comes from the picture of locking someone in a cell and then throwing the key away, showing the lock up and the toss the key actions so the person cannot be 'freed'. That's why the phrase means to put someone away for good.