• (RP) IPA: /tɒs/
• (America) IPA: /tɔs/
• (cot-caught, Canada) IPA: /tɑs/

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, 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.
3. A haughty throwing up of the head.
4. (British slang) A jot, in the phrase 'give a toss'.

   I couldn't give a toss about her.

5. (British slang) A state of agitation; commotion.
6. (Billingsgate Fish Market slang) A measure of sprats.

• French: jet
• German: Wurf
• Italian: tiro, lancio
• Portuguese: arremesso
• Russian: броса́ние
• Spanish: tiro, lanzamiento

• Italian: testa o croce, lancio moneta
• Portuguese: lançamento
• Russian: жеребьёвка
• Spanish: lanzar una moneda al aire, echar un volado

toss (tosses, present participle tossing; past and past participle tossed)

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

   • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, published 1712, [Act 4, scene 1]:

     He tossed his arm aloft, and proudly told me, / He would not stay.

3. To agitate; to make restless.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 8”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗:

     Calm region once, / And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent.

4. To subject to trials; to harass.

   • Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men.

5. To flip a coin, to decide a point of contention.

   We should toss for it.

   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. (British 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."

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.
12. (obsolete) To keep in play; to tumble over.

    to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar

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.
14. (British slang) To drink in large draughts; to gulp.

• French: lancer
• Italian: tirare un pallonetto
• Portuguese: jogar, arremessar, tacar, lançar
• Russian: броса́ть
• Spanish: lanzar

• French: tirer à pile ou face
• German: werfen
• Italian: tirare, lanciare una moneta, fare testa o croce
• Portuguese: tirar cara ou coroa
• Russian: подбра́сывать

• Portuguese: descartar, jogar fora
• Spanish: tirar, desechar

• French: mélanger, fatiguer, remuer
• German: vermischen, vermengen, zusammenfügen
• Italian: rigirare, voltare, mescolare
• Portuguese: misturar
• Russian: переме́шивать
• Spanish: mezclar, revolver

• Portuguese: jogar

1. plural form of TOS