TOSS • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Toss

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/tɔs/ Listen

noun

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.

verb

Toss v. t. (past & past part. tossed, less properly tost; pres. part. tossing)

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."

3.

To cause to rise and fall; as, a ship tossed on the waves in a storm. "We being exceedingly tossed with a tempest."

4.

To agitate; to make restless. "Calm region once, And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent."

5.

Hence, to try; to harass. "Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men."

6.

To keep in play; to tumble over; as, to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar. (Obs.)

To toss off,

(a)

to drink hastily.

(b)

to accomplish easily or quickly.

(c)

to say in an offhand manner; as, to toss off a comment.

(d)

to masturbate; British slang.

To toss the cars.See under Oar, n.

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 enrages our pain."

2.

To be tossed, as a fleet on the ocean.

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.

See images of 'Toss'

Etymology of 'Toss'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Toss" Quotes from Famous Books

... tropical palms; so natural is it for one extreme to suggest the opposite. I took our bearings with a compass-ring, as we drove forward, and as the summit of Avasaxa bore due east we both gave a shout which startled our postilion and notably quickened the gait of our horses. It was impossible to toss our caps, for they were not only tied upon our heads, but frozen fast to our beards. So here we were at last, in the true dominions of Winter. A mild ruler he had been to us, thus far, but he proved a despot before we were done ...

— Northern Travel - Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland • Bayard Taylor

... learned from her maid that Madame Catherine had arrived in a cab and had departed again with the signorina. On going to the drawing-room before dinner she found the Countess Gemini alone, and this lady characterised the incident by exclaiming, with a wonderful toss of the head, "En voila, ma chere, une pose!" But if it was an affectation she was at a loss to see what her husband affected. She could only dimly perceive that he had more traditions than she supposed. It had become her habit to be so careful as to ...

— The Portrait of a Lady - Volume 2 (of 2) • Henry James

... Frank Oldfield toss to and fro, or start up with glaring eyes, calling on his drunken associates, singing wild songs, or now and then recalling days when sin had not yet set its searing brand on his heart and conscience. About midnight his father and mother ...

— Frank Oldfield - Lost and Found • T.P. Wilson

... fascinated interest in silence. He began to find this one of her most potent charms—the faculty of translating into a grace so exquisite as almost to realize the fabled poetry of motion, the least shrug of her shoulders, the smallest crook of her finger, the slightest toss of her small, ...

— The Claim Jumpers • Stewart Edward White

... "thine imams will toss these cloths in the air, and three whole birds will fly away. The cloths will fall to earth, white as snow. Is that not ...

— The Flying Legion • George Allan England

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