toss

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See also: tos, TOS, tôs, tös, tøs, and t-os

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

toss (plural tosses)

  1. A throw, a lob, of a ball etc., with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care.
  2. (cricket, soccer) The toss of a coin 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. (Britain, slang) A jot, in the phrase 'give a toss'.
    I couldn't give a toss about her.

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Verb[edit]

toss (third-person singular simple present tosses, present participle tossing, simple past and past participle tossed or (obsolete) tost)

  1. To throw with an initial upward direction.
    Toss it over here!
  2. To lift with a sudden or violent motion.
    to toss the head
    • Addison
      He tossed his arm aloft, and proudly told me, / He would not stay.
  3. To agitate; to make restless.
    • Milton
      Calm region once, / And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent.
  4. To subject to trials; to harass.
    • Herbert
      Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men.
  5. To flip a coin, to decide a point of contention.
    I'll toss you for it.
  6. (informal) To discard: to toss out
    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. (Britain, slang) To masturbate
  9. (transitive, informal) To search (a room or a cell), sometimes leaving visible disorder, as for valuables or evidence of a crime.
    "Someone tossed just his living room and bedroom." / "They probably found what they were looking for."
    • 2003, Joseph Wambaugh, Fire Lover, page 258:
      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.
    • 2009, Thomas Harris, Red Dragon:
      Rankin and Willingham, when they tossed his cell, they took Polaroids so they could get everything back in place.
    • 2011, Linda Howard, Kill and Tell: A Novel:
      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. (intransitive) To roll and tumble; to be in violent commotion.
    tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep
  11. (intransitive) To be tossed, as a fleet on the ocean, or as a ship in heavy seas.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  12. (obsolete) To keep in play; to tumble over.
    to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Ascham to this entry?)
  13. (rowing) To peak (the oars), to lift them from the rowlocks and hold them perpendicularly, the handle resting on the bottom of the boat.

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