do time

Idioms  

1. Serve a prison sentence, as in Many of the gang members did time while they were still teenagers. This expression originated as underworld slang and is now standard usage. [c. 1860]

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

do time

Mr Berry also said he would "do time" for Mrs Mills.

From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025

It’s something life has evolved to do time and again.

From Slate ● Aug. 13, 2024

"What we found were good changes in gene expression in these individuals which now gives us some idea what to expect when people with obesity do time restricted eating."

From Salon ● Jan. 25, 2023

Despite this, fire camps remain the most humane places to do time in the California prison system.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 15, 2021

Almost all of them were at Angola, a notoriously difficult place to do time, especially in the 1970s and 1980s when many had first arrived.

From "Just Mercy" by Bryan Stevenson