toss
nounverbcommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//tɒs//
- United States//tɔs//
- //tɑs//
A throw, a lob, of a ball etc., with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care.
noun
- 1
A throw, a lob, of a ball etc., with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care.
- 2
The coin toss before a cricket match in order to decide who bats first, or before a football match in order to decide the direction of play.
- 3
A haughty throwing up of the head.
- 4
slangConcern or consideration.
I don't give a toss about her.
- 5
slangA state of agitation; commotion.
This put us at the board into a Tosse.
"We are all in a toss, in our neighborhood," said Mistress Pottle.
- 6
A measure of sprats.
It will differ from the heaped measure of oysters, improperly called the peck, by about one-seventh part in excess, and from the toss of sprats by about one-third part in excess.
- 7
A handover from one presenter to another, announced by the first presenter.
The introduction would still be done by the Monitor host in New York's Studio 5B, followed by the toss to the newsperson in Washington.
- 8
slangNonsense; drivel.
Then I look again at this message. What a load of toss.
'You were,' John said, with infinite love, 'talking such absolute toss.'
I always thought that the breathing thing was a load of toss, but it helped calm me big time.
- 9
An act of masturbation.
And Uncle Frank is having a wank, And Auntie Floss is having a toss, With Grandad.
This girl was a wank, a toss, something to be used over and over again, even when she was a pensioner; the pictures would be around till the next millennium.
Men don't chat about having a toss. We just don't. It's not comfortable.
Etymology
From Middle English tossen (“to buffet about, agitate, toss; to sift or winnow”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old Norse (compare dialectal Norwegian tossa, dialectal Swedish tossa (“to strew, spread”)), or perhaps from an alteration of Middle English tosen (“to tease, pull apart, shred; to wound, injure”). Compare also Dutch tassen (“to pile or heap up, stack”). The Welsh tos (“a quick jerk”) and tosio (“to jerk, toss”) are probably borrowed from the English.
verb
- 1
To throw with an initial upward direction.
Toss it over here!
President Trump posted an AI-generated video on Thursday on Truth Social that showed him tossing a “Trump 2028” hat at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).
- 2
To lift with a sudden or violent motion.
to toss the head
He tossed his arm aloft, and proudly told me, He would not stay.
"Over the bender," said Wisp, with a laugh, tossing his thumb over his left shoulder as he spoke.
- 3
To agitate; to make restless.
Calm region once, And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent.
- 4
To subject to trials; to harass.
Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men.
- 5
To flip a coin, to decide a point of contention.
We should toss for it.
I'll toss you for it.
- 6
informalTo discard; to throw away.
I don't need it any more; you can just toss it.
- 7
To stir or mix (a salad).
to toss a salad; a tossed salad.
- 8
slangTo masturbate.
- 9
informalTo search (a room or a cell), sometimes leaving visible disorder, as for valuables or evidence of a crime.
John Orr had occasion to complain in writing to the senior supervisor that his Playboy and Penthouse magazines had been stolen by deputies. And he believed that was what prompted a random search of his cell for contraband. He was stripped, handcuffed, and forced to watch as they tossed his cell.
Rankin and Willingham, when they tossed his cell, they took Polaroids so they could get everything back in place.
Hayes had watched him toss a room before. He had tapped walls, gotten down on his hands and knees and studied the floor, inspected books and lamps and bric-abrac.
- 10
To roll and tumble; to be in violent commotion.
tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep
“We can’t stand this, you know,” the young Englishmen said to each other; and they tossed about all night more boisterously than they had tossed upon the Atlantic billows.
- 11
To be tossed, as a fleet on the ocean, or as a ship in heavy seas.
Even now did the sea toss up upon our shore
- 12
obsoleteTo keep in play; to tumble over.
spend four or fiue yeares, in tossing all the rules of Grammer in common scholes
- 13
To peak (the oars), to lift them from the rowlocks and hold them perpendicularly, the handle resting on the bottom of the boat.
- 14
slangTo drink in large draughts; to gulp.
Their modest stole, to garish looser weed, Deck'd with love-favours their late whoredoms' meed: And where they wont sip of the simple flood, Now toss they bowls of Bacchus' boiling blood,
Why, forſooth, an you think ſo, you had beſt go to bed. For my part, I mean to toſs a Can, and remember my Sweet-Heart, afore I turn in; may-hap I may dream of her.
- 15
slangTo vomit.
Forms
- plural
- tosses
- past tense
- tossed, tost
- past participle
- tossed, tost
- present participle
- tossing
- third person singular
- tosses
toss · A throw, a lob, of a ball etc., with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care.
tossing · The motion of something that tosses; a throwing or sudden…total · An amount obtained by the addition of smaller amounts.totally · To the fullest extent or degree.