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Toss vs Mess - What's the difference?

toss | mess |

In obsolete|lang=en terms the difference between toss and mess

is that toss is (obsolete) to keep in play; to tumble over while mess is (obsolete) mass; church service.

As nouns the difference between toss and mess

is that toss is a throw, a lob, of a ball etc, with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care while mess is (obsolete) mass; church service or mess can be a disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; a disorder.

As verbs the difference between toss and mess

is that toss is to throw with an initial upward direction while mess is (label) to take meals with a mess or mess can be (label) to make a mess of.

toss

English

Noun

(es)
  • A throw, a lob, of a ball etc., with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care.
  • (cricket, football) 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.
  • (British, slang) A jot, in the phrase 'give a toss'.
  • I couldn't give a toss about her.

    Derived terms

    * argue the toss

    Verb

  • To throw with an initial upward direction.
  • Toss it over here!
  • 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.
  • To agitate; to make restless.
  • * Milton
  • Calm region once, / And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent.
  • To subject to trials; to harass.
  • * Herbert
  • Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men.
  • To flip a coin, to decide a point of contention.
  • I'll toss you for it.
  • To discard: to toss out
  • ''I don't need it anymore, you can just toss it.
  • To stir or mix (a salad).
  • to toss''' a salad; a '''tossed salad.
  • (British, vulgar, slang) To masturbate
  • (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 , p. 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 , , 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.
  • To roll and tumble; to be in violent commotion.
  • tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep
  • To be tossed, as a fleet on the ocean.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) To keep in play; to tumble over.
  • to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar
    (Ascham)
  • To peak (the oars), to lift them from the rowlocks and hold them perpendicularly, the handle resting on the bottom of the boat.
  • See also

    * tosser * toss off * toss in * toss and turn

    Anagrams

    * * *

    mess

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), partly from (etyl) . More at (m); see also (m).

    Noun

    (es)
  • (obsolete) Mass; church service.
  • A quantity of food set on a table at one time; provision of food for a person or party for one meal; also, the food given to an animal at one time.
  • A mess of pottage.
  • * Milton
  • At their savoury dinner set / Of herbs and other country messes .
  • A number of persons who eat together, and for whom food is prepared in common; especially, persons in the military or naval service who eat at the same table.
  • the wardroom mess
  • * 1610 , , IV. iv. 11:
  • But that our feasts / In every mess have folly, and the feeders / Digest it with accustom,
  • A set of four (from the old practice of dividing companies into sets of four at dinner).
  • (Latimer)
  • (US) The milk given by a cow at one milking.
  • Derived terms
    * Eton mess * lose the number of one's mess * mess hall * mess up * Mills Mess

    Verb

  • (label) To take meals with a mess.
  • (label) To belong to a mess.
  • (label) To eat (with others).
  • (label) To supply with a mess.
  • Etymology 2

    Perhaps a corruption of (etyl) , compare (muss), or derived from Etymology 1 "mixed foods, as for animals".

    Noun

    (-)
  • A disagreeable mixture or confusion of things; hence, a situation resulting from blundering or from misunderstanding; a disorder.
  • (label) A large quantity or number.
  • (label) Excrement.
  • Synonyms
    * see also

    Verb

    (es)
  • (label) To make a mess of.
  • (label) To throw into confusion.
  • (label) To interfere.
  • Derived terms
    (terms derived from "mess") * messy * mess around * mess up * mess with

    References

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    Anagrams

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