up the river
Serving a sentence
Up the river means in prison, from the location of Sing Sing prison up the Hudson River from New York City.
The phrase typically follows a verb of motion: They sent him up the river for ten years.
It can also describe the state of being imprisoned: He's been up the river since 2019.
- behind barsIn jail
- sent upMocked through imitation
- incarceratedConfined in prison
- sentencedGiven punishment legally
- prison sentenceMandated period of incarceration
doing time · Sing Sing · imprisoned · locked up · maximum security · current · bend · canoe · penitentiary · convicted · life sentence · Alcatraz · paddle · rapids · tributary · penalized · up the creek · water
- Euphemismspass away, passed away, passed on, expecting, with child
- prisonsprison, inmates, cells, prisons, prisoner
up the riverfree
Without payment or restriction
on the outside · at liberty · out · released · loose
up the riverexonerated
Cleared of wrongdoing
acquitted · cleared · off the hook · vindicated · let off
river, rivers, rivulet, upping, riverbank, riverbed, upstream, riverbanks, riverine