Adjacent Words

Toss definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TOSS, v.t. pret. and pp. tossed or tost.
1. To throw with the hand; particularly, to throw with the palm of the hand upward, or to throw upward; as, to toss a ball.
2. To throw with violence.
3. To lift or throw up with a sudden or violent motion; as, to toss the head; or to toss up the head.
He toss'd his arm aloft.
4. To cause to rise and fall; as, to be tossed on the waves.
We, being exceedingly tossed with a tempest-- Acts 27.
5. To move one way and the other. Proverbs 21.
6. To agitate; to make restless.
Calm region once,
And full of peace, now tost and turbulent.
7. To keep in play; to tumble over; as, to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar.
TOSS, v.i. To fling; to roll and tumble; to writhe; to be in violent commotion.
To toss and fling, and to be restless, only frets and enrages our pain.
1. To be tossed.
To toss up, is to throw a coin into the air and wager on what side it will fall.
TOSS, n. A throwing upward or with a jerk; the act of tossing; as the toss of a ball.
1. A throwing up of the head; a particular manner of raising the head with a jerk. It is much applied to horses, and may be applied to an affected manner of raising the head in men.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of flipping a coin [syn: flip, toss]
2: (sports) the act of throwing the ball to another member of your team; "the pass was fumbled" [syn: pass, toss, flip]
3: an abrupt movement; "a toss of his head" v
1: throw or toss with a light motion; "flip me the beachball"; "toss me newspaper" [syn: flip, toss, sky, pitch]
2: lightly throw to see which side comes up; "I don't know what to do--I may as well flip a coin!" [syn: flip, toss]
3: throw carelessly; "chuck the ball" [syn: chuck, toss]
4: move or stir about violently; "The feverish patient thrashed around in his bed" [syn: convulse, thresh, thresh about, thrash, thrash about, slash, toss, jactitate]
5: throw or cast away; "Put away your worries" [syn: discard, fling, toss, toss out, toss away, chuck out, cast aside, dispose, throw out, cast out, throw away, cast away, put away]
6: agitate; "toss the salad"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb Etymology: Middle English Date: 15th century transitive verb 1. a. to fling or heave continuously about, to and fro, or up and down <a ship tossed by waves> b. bandy 2 c. to mix lightly until well coated with a dressing or until the elements are thoroughly combined <toss a salad> 2. to make uneasy ; stir up ; disturb 3. a. to throw with a quick, light, or careless motion or with a sudden jerk <toss a ball around> b. to throw up in the air <tossed by a bull> c. match 5a d. to send as if by throwing <tossed in jail> <tossed out of the game> e. to get rid of ; throw away 4. a. to fling or lift with a sudden motion <tosses her head angrily> b. to tilt suddenly so as to empty by drinking <tossed his glass>; also to consume by drinking <toss down a drink> 5. to accomplish, provide, or produce readily or easily <toss off a few verses> 6. throw 18 <toss a party> 7. vomit 1 — often used in the phrase toss one's cookies intransitive verb 1. a. to move restlessly or turbulently; especially to twist and turn repeatedly <tossed sleeplessly all night> b. to move with a quick or spirited gesture 2. to decide an issue by flipping a coin Synonyms: see throw • tosser noun II. noun Date: 1634 1. the state or fact of being tossed 2. an act or instance of tossing: as a. an abrupt tilting or upward fling b. a deciding by chance and especially by flipping a coin c. throw, pitch

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. throw up (a ball etc.) esp. with the hand. 2 tr. & intr. roll about, throw, or be thrown, restlessly or from side to side (the ship tossed on the ocean; was tossing and turning all night; tossed her head angrily). 3 tr. (usu. foll. by to, away, aside, out, etc.) throw (a thing) lightly or carelessly (tossed the letter away). 4 tr. a throw (a coin) into the air to decide a choice etc. by the side on which it lands. b (also absol.; often foll. by for) settle a question or dispute with (a person) in this way (tossed him for the armchair; tossed for it). 5 tr. a (of a bull etc.) throw (a person etc.) up with the horns. b (of a horse etc.) throw (a rider) off its back. 6 tr. coat (food) with dressing etc. by shaking. 7 tr. bandy about in debate; discuss (tossed the question back and forth). --n. 1 the act or an instance of tossing (a coin, the head, etc.). 2 Brit. a fall, esp. from a horse. Phrases and idioms: toss one's head throw it back esp. in anger, impatience, etc. tossing the caber the Scottish sport of throwing a tree-trunk. toss oars raise oars to an upright position in salute. toss off 1 drink off at a draught. 2 dispatch (work) rapidly or without effort (tossed off an omelette). 3 Brit. coarse sl. masturbate. Usage: Usually considered a taboo use in sense 3. toss a pancake throw it up so that it flips on to the other side in the frying-pan. toss up toss a coin to decide a choice etc. toss-up n. 1 a doubtful matter; a close thing (it's a toss-up whether he wins). 2 the tossing of a coin. Etymology: 16th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Toss Toss, n. 1. A throwing upward, or with a jerk; the act of tossing; as, the toss of a ball. 2. A throwing up of the head; a particular manner of raising the head with a jerk. --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Toss Toss, v. i. 1. To roll and tumble; to be in violent commotion; to write; to fling. To toss and fling, and to be restless, only frets and enreges our pain. --Tillotson. 2. To be tossed, as a fleet on the ocean. --Shak. To toss for, to throw dice or a coin to determine the possession of; to gamble for. To toss up, to throw a coin into the air, and wager on which side it will fall, or determine a question by its fall. --Bramsion.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Toss Toss, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tossed ; (less properly Tost ); p. pr. & vb. n. Tossing.] [ W. tosiaw, tosio, to jerk, toss, snatch, tosa quick jerk, a toss, a snatch. ] 1. To throw with the hand; especially, to throw with the palm of the hand upward, or to throw upward; as, to toss a ball. 2. To lift or throw up with a sudden or violent motion; as, to toss the head. He tossed his arm aloft, and proudly told me, He would not stay. --Addison. 3. To cause to rise and fall; as, a ship tossed on the waves in a storm. We being exceedingly tossed with a tempeat. --Act xxvii. 18. 4. To agitate; to make restless. Calm region once, And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent. --Milton. 5. Hence, to try; to harass. Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men. --Herbert. 6. To keep in play; to tumble over; as, to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar. [Obs.] --Ascham. To toss off, to drink hastily. To toss the cars.See under Oar, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(tosses, tossing, tossed) 1. If you toss something somewhere, you throw it there lightly, often in a rather careless way. He screwed the paper into a ball and tossed it into the fire... He tossed Malone a can of beer, and took one himself. VERB: V n prep/adv, V n n 2. If you toss your head or toss your hair, you move your head backwards, quickly and suddenly, often as a way of expressing an emotion such as anger or contempt. 'I'm sure I don't know.' Cook tossed her head... Gasping, she tossed her hair out of her face. VERB: V n, V n prep/adv • Toss is also a noun. With a toss of his head and a few hard gulps, Bob finished the last of his beer. N-COUNT 3. In sports and informal situations, if you decide something by tossing a coin, you spin a coin into the air and guess which side of the coin will face upwards when it lands. We tossed a coin to decide who would go out and buy the buns. VERB: V n • Toss is also a noun. It would be better to decide it on the toss of a coin. N-COUNT: usu sing 4. The toss is a way of deciding something, such as who is going to go first in a game, that consists of spinning a coin into the air and guessing which side of the coin will face upwards when it lands. Bangladesh won the toss and decided to bat first. N-SING: the N 5. If something such as the wind or sea tosses an object, it causes it to move from side to side or up and down. (LITERARY) The seas grew turbulent, tossing the small boat like a cork... As the plane was tossed up and down, the pilot tried to stabilise it. VERB: V n, be V-ed adv/prep 6. If you toss food while preparing it, you put pieces of it into a liquid and lightly shake them so that they become covered with the liquid. Do not toss the salad until you're ready to serve... Add the grated orange rind and toss the apple slices in the mixture... Serve straight from the dish with a tossed green salad. VERB: V n, V n in n, V-ed 7. see also toss-up 8. If you say that someone argues the toss, you are criticizing them for continuing to argue for longer than is necessary about something that is not very important. (BRIT) They were still arguing the toss about the first goal... PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR prep [disapproval] 9. If you say that you do not give a toss about someone or something, you are emphasizing that you do not care about them at all. (BRIT INFORMAL) Well, who gives a toss about sophistication anyway?... PHRASE: with brd-neg, V inflects, oft PHR about n, PHR wh [emphasis] 10. If you toss and turn, you keep moving around in bed and cannot sleep properly, for example because you are ill or worried. PHRASE: Vs inflect

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Throw (by the hand and upward), throw up. 2. Lift up suddenly, throw up, raise violently. 3. Fling, pitch, cast, hurl, throw. 4. Agitate, shake, rock. 5. Try, harass, disquiet, make restless. 6. Keep in play, tumble over. II. v. n. 1. Roll, writhe, fling, tumble about, be uneasy, be in violent commotion. 2. Be agitated, be tossed, be moved tumultuously.

Moby Thesaurus

agitate, agonize, be poised, billow, blind bargain, blunder, bob, bobble, bowl, break, bung, call, careen, career, cast, cast at, cast lots, catapult, chance at odds, change of pace, change-up, chuck, chuck at, chunk, clap, coggle, comb, crash, curve, cut lots, cut the cards, dangle, dart, dash, downcurve, draw lots, draw straws, ebb and flow, even break, even chance, fair shake, falter, fastball, fidget, fifty-fifty, fire, fire at, fling, fling at, flip, flip out, flounce, flounder, fluctuate, flutter, fork, forward pass, freak out on, gamble, gambling chance, game, get high on, glow, go pitapat, half a chance, have the fidgets, have the shakes, heave, heave at, hobbyhorse, hurl, hurl against, hurl at, hurtle, imbibe, incurve, jerk, jiggle, joggle, knuckleball, labor, lance, lash, lateral, lateral pass, launch, let fly, let fly at, librate, lift, lob, look all over, look everywhere, lot, lurch, make heavy weather, match coins, matter of chance, nutate, odds, oscillate, outcurve, palpitate, pant, pass, peak, peg, pelt, pendulate, pitch, pitch and plunge, pitch and toss, pitchfork, plank, play, play at dice, play the ponies, plop, plump, plunge, plunk, popple, potluck, potshot, pound, propel, put, put the shot, quaff, quake, quaver, quiver, raffle off, rake, random shot, ransack, rear, reel, resonate, rifle, rise, rise and fall, rock, roll, rummage, scend, scour, screwball, search high heaven, seethe, send, serve, service, shake, shake down, shake up, shiver, shoot craps, shot-put, shy, shy at, sinker, sip, slap, slider, sling, sling at, smash, snap, speculate, spitball, spitter, sport, sporting chance, square odds, squirm, stagger, standoff, stir up, struggle, stumble, sup, surge, swag, swallow, sway, swell, swell with emotion, swing, thrash, thrash about, thrill, thrill to, throb, throw, throw at, thrust, tilt, tingle, tingle with excitement, toss and tumble, toss and turn, toss at, toss-up, totter, touch and go, tremble, tumble, turn inside out, turn on to, turn upside down, twist and turn, twitch, twitter, undulate, upcurve, vacillate, vibrate, volutation, wag, waggle, wallop, wallow, wave, waver, welter, wiggle, wobble, wriggle, writhe, yaw