do time

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]

Example Sentences

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

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

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The deal included a 23-month jail sentence but in Spain, convicts do not usually do time for sentences under two years.

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The sunrise ambers and midnight blues of Joshua Cutts’s lighting design illuminate Michael’s states of mind as much as they do time and place.

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Ansbro told people he "did not like" Mrs Collinson and he would "kill her" and "do time for her", Mr McKone said.

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