Etymologically
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toss

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /tɒs/, US /tɑːs/[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain or unknown.[2][3][4][5] It may be Scandinavian; compare Norwegian tossa (“to strew, spread”) in dialect.[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To lift or throw upward with a sudden movement: the mid-15th century in Etymonline, before 1450 in Barnhart.[3][2] Hoad notes it was often used of the sea in early use.[4]

Semantic evolution

To pitch up and down or about is from about 1500,[3] to disquiet or agitate from the 1520s, and to toss and turn restlessly from the 1550s.[3] The noun is from 1634,[2][7] a toss of the head from the 1670s,[3] and the toss of a coin from 1798.[3] To toss a salad is by 1723.[3] Toss-up, a coin toss, is from before 1800, and an even chance from 1809.[2] In the negative, not to give a toss, it is by 1876.[3] Tossing someone in a blanket was an old way of showing dislike.[3]

Timeline

  • mid-15th century – to toss up.[3]
  • 1550s – to be restless.[3]
  • 1634 – a toss (noun).[2][7]
  • 1723 – to toss a salad.[3]
  • 1798 – the toss of a coin.[3]
  • 1809 – toss-up, an even chance.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To throw lightly or casually.
  2. To throw or be thrown about: a ship tosses in a storm.
  3. To move about restlessly.
  4. To mix a salad lightly with dressing.
  5. To jerk the head upward or backward.
  6. To flip a coin to decide something.
  7. To discuss informally.

Noun

  1. An act of tossing.
  2. An abrupt upward movement, as of the head.
  3. The flipping of a coin to decide an issue.

Word family

  • tosser
  • tossingly
  • toss-up
  • untossed
  • tosspot

Usage notes

In an obsolete Scots sense a toss was a toast, a beauty to whom toasts were drunk.[8]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)