What is the difference between toss and throw?

Throw is a synonym of toss.

In transitive informal terms the difference between toss and throw

is that toss is to search (a room or a cell), sometimes leaving visible disorder, as for valuables or evidence of a crime while throw is to confuse or mislead.

In obsolete terms the difference between toss and throw

is that toss is to keep in play; to tumble over while throw is a period of time; a while.

As nouns the difference between toss and throw

is that toss is a throw, a lob, of a ball etc., with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care while throw is the flight of a thrown object; as, a fast throw.

As verbs the difference between toss and throw

is that toss is to throw with an initial upward direction while throw is to hurl; to cause an object to move rapidly through the air.

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.

Anagrams

* * *

throw

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) .

Verb

To hurl; to cause an object to move rapidly through the air.

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.}}

To eject or cause to fall off.

* Shakespeare

There the snake throws her enamelled skin.

To move to another position or condition; to displace.

* , chapter=17

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.}}

(ceramics) To make (a pot) by shaping clay as it turns on a wheel.

(cricket) Of a bowler, to deliver (the ball) illegally by straightening the bowling arm during delivery.

(computing) To send (an error) to an exception-handling mechanism in order to interrupt normal processing.

(sports) To intentionally lose a game.

* 2012 , August 1. Peter Walker and Haroon Siddique in Guardian Unlimited, Eight Olympic badminton players disqualified for 'throwing games'

Four pairs of women's doubles badminton players, including the Chinese top seeds, have been ejected from the Olympic tournament for trying to throw matches in an effort to secure a more favourable quarter-final draw.

(informal) To confuse or mislead.

* 1999 , Jan Blackstone-Ford, The Custody Solutions Sourcebook - Page 196

"Jann, why does he hate me so much?" That question threw me. I was expecting a lunatic yelling profanities.

(figuratively) To send desperately.

* {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 28, author=Marc Vesty, work=BBC

, title= Stoke 0-2 Fulham , passage=Stoke threw men forward in numbers as they attempted to find a way back into the game, and Mark Schwarzer was forced into a low save from Huth's close-range effort.}}

To imprison.

* 1818 , (Mary Shelley), (Frankenstein)

The plot of Felix was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatha were thrown into prison.

* 1993 , Margaret McKee, Fred Chisenhall, Beale black & blue: life and music on black America's main street - Page 30

The standard method of dealing with an addict was to arrest him, throw him into a cell, and leave him until the agonizing pangs of withdrawal were over.

To organize an event, especially a party.

* {{quote-news, year=1986, date=March 1, work=Evening News

, title= Bash Planned , passage=And now, Clevelanders hoping to bring the Rock Roll Hall of Fame to their city are throwing a bash to commemorate the 34th birthday of disc Jockey Alan Freed's "Moondog Coronation Ball".}}

* 1979 , Working Mother - July 1979 Page 72[http://books.google.com/books?id=SWEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA72&dq=%22throw+a+party%22&hl=en&ei=KGUeTbvyA426hAfw6OC3Dg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CFkQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=%22throw%20a%20party%22&f=false]

Should you be interested, for whatever reason, it will tell you how to throw a party for your 40-year-old husband or your 100-year-old great-grandmother. It also describes games that can be played at various kinds of parties

To roll (a die or dice).

* 1844 , Samuel Laing translating (Snorri Sturluson), Heimskringla

The kings came to the agreement between themselves that they would cast lots by the dice to determine who should have this property, and that he who threw the highest should have the district. The Swedish king threw two sixes, and said King Olaf need scarcely throw .

To cause a certain number on the die or dice to be shown after rolling it.

* 1844 , Samuel Laing translating (Snorri Sturluson), Heimskringla

The kings came to the agreement between themselves that they would cast lots by the dice to determine who should have this property, and that he who threw' the highest should have the district. The Swedish king ' threw two sixes, and said King Olaf need scarcely throw.

(bridge) To discard.

* {{quote-news, year=1990, date=January 4, work=(The Washington Times)

, title= Sharp coup overcomes trump split , passage=Declarer threw his queen of spades on the high diamond. He then won the last three tricks with his ace, queen and nine of hearts behind East's jack third.}}

(martial arts) To lift the opponent off the ground and bring him back down, especially into a position behind the thrower.

To subject someone to verbally.

* {{quote-news, year=2007, date=June 11, author=Claude Salhani, work=UPI

, title= Analysis: Irony of Bush's European tour , passage=In other European cities the president visited this week, people waited for his motorcade to pass to throw insults at him, requiring the police to intervene with batons, water cannons and tear gas.}}

(said of animals) To give birth to.

* 1916 , Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association: Volume 49

At the end of the normal gestation period the cow threw two calf mummies as large as cats.

(said of one's voice) To change in order to give the illusion that the voice is that of someone else.

* {{quote-news, year=2005, date=April 13, author=Leon Neyfakh, work=Harvard Crimson

, title= BOOKENDS: Will the Real Jonathan Safran Foer Please Stand Up , passage=“Then, when I throw my voice, when I speak as someone who's quite different from me, it starts to feel very authentic.”}}

To show sudden emotion, especially anger.

* 1991 , Janet L. Davies, Ellen Hastings Janosik, Mental health and psychiatric nursing: a caring approach

Bill runs into the kitchen and tells Dad that Erik is throwing a tantrum. He tells Bill to go back and watch his program and to ignore his brother. Fifteen minutes later, Erik is still screaming

* 1996 , New York Magazine Vol. 29, No. 32 - 19 Aug 1996; Entertaining Mrs Stone

In 1975, pregnant with the second of her three children, she threw a hissy fit to get on a trip to Boston for elected officials.

To project or send forth.

* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I,

Warwick left the undertaker's shop and retraced his steps until he had passed the lawyer's office, toward which he threw an affectionate glance.

To put on hastily; to spread carelessly.

* Alexander Pope

O'er his fair limbs a flowery vest he threw .

To twist two or more filaments of (silk, etc.) so as to form one thread; to twist together, as singles, in a direction contrary to the twist of the singles themselves; sometimes applied to the whole class of operations by which silk is prepared for the weaver.

(Tomlinson)

Synonyms

* (cause an object to move rapidly through the air) bowl, bung, buzz, cast, catapult, chuck, dash, direct, fire, fling, flip, heave, hurl, launch, lob, pitch, project, propel, send, shoot, shy, sling, toss, whang * (eject or cause to fall off) eject, throw off * (move to another position) displace, relocate * See also

Derived terms

* a stone's throw * overthrow * throw a bone to * throw a fit * throw away, throw-away * throw a wobbly * throwback * throw down the gauntlet * throw in the sponge * throw in the towel * throwing * throw shapes * throw the book at * throw up * throw one's weight around

Noun

(en noun)

The flight of a thrown object; as, a fast throw.

The act of throwing something.

A distance travelled; displacement; as, the throw of the piston.

A piece of fabric used to cover a bed, sofa or other soft furnishing.

A single instance, occurrence, venture, or chance.

Football tickets are expensive at fifty bucks a throw .

Derived terms

* throw pillow * throw-up

References

* Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter Vol. 11, Number 1.[http://www.studiopotter.org/articles/?art=art0001]

Etymology 2

From (etyl) (m), alteration of (m), from (etyl) . More at (m).

Noun

(en noun)

Pain, especially pain associated with childbirth; throe.

(Spenser)

(Dryden)

(veterinary) The act of giving birth in animals, especially in cows.

Etymology 3

From (etyl), from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) A moment, time, occasion.

(obsolete) A period of time; a while.

* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.iv:

Downe himselfe he layd / Vpon the grassie ground, to sleepe a throw ; / The cold earth was his couch, the hard steele his pillow.

Synonyms

* (l)

Etymology 4

Noun

(head)

Anagrams

* * English irregular verbs