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Glite Dictionary
to do one's own time

to do one's own time

8.8
Serve a prison sentence without involving other people
  • idiom
  • Jargon
translation icon : cumplir la condena
  • Well, do your own time.

Examples

  • She learned to do her own time in prison, focusing on self-improvement during her sentence.

  • why would you do your own time

    Computer Hackers (2019)

  • why would you do your own time

    Computer Hackers (2019)

  • After getting convicted, he decided to do his own time instead of trying to escape.

  • When faced with the consequences, he accepted that he would have to do his own time without any help.

Synonyms

to serve
vsto do one's own time
306 7.5

To spend time in prison as a punishment

emphasizes doing the punishment alone without help from others
to serve time
vsto do one's own time
35 6.7

To spend time in prison as punishment for a crime

is carried out without relying on others during the sentence
to pay one's debt to society
vsto do one's own time
5 7.1

To serve the punishment for a crime, often by going to prison

focuses on completing punishment independently rather than involving others

Antonyms

to rely on
602 1.0

Trust a person or thing to do what you expect

Surface Forms

do one's own time infinitive
did one's own time past
done one's own time past participle
doing one's own time present participle
does one's own time third person singular

Morphology

do + one + own + time

The base 'do time' is an idiomatic use of 'do' + 'time' meaning 'serve a prison sentence', which is not fully predictable from the literal meanings of 'do' and 'time' for a B1 learner. Adding 'one's own' (own = possession) clearly signals that the sentence is served by the person themselves, so the possession/independence nuance is derivable even though the core verb phrase is partly idiomatic.

Etymology

Do one's own time comes from prison life: to do time means 'to serve a sentence'. The image is of someone serving that time by themselves, not asking others to take the blame or serve time for them, so it means 'to serve a punishment without involving others'.