TOSS

, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tossed (; (less properly Tost ); p. pr. & vb. n. Tossing.] Etym: [ W. tosiaw, tosio, to jerk, toss, snatch, tosa quick jerk, a toss, a snatch. ]

To throw with the hand; especially, to throw with the palm of the hand upward, or to throw upward; as, to toss a ball.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

A throwing upward, or with a jerk; the act of tossing; as, the toss of a ball.

A throwing up of the head; a particular manner of raising the head with a jerk. Swift.