Tossing means moving something back and forth or up in the air, often gently. You might toss a coin, playfully tossing your hair.
When we say someone's "tossing around ideas," it means they're throwing out suggestions or possibilities without settling on one yet. This is like tossing balls of paper with different words written on them, seeing which ones stick. For instance, you might be tossing around ideas for a new project at work or talking about travel plans with friends. You toss around possibilities to see what works best.
How common is "tossing"?
Word tossing is considered rare in modern English. It appears most frequently in fiction texts and less often in other writings.
Definitions
verb
To throw with an initial upward direction.
Example: Toss it over here!
To lift with a sudden or violent motion.
Example: to toss the head
To agitate; to make restless.
To subject to trials; to harass.
To flip a coin, to decide a point of contention.
Example: I'll toss you for it.
To discard: to toss out
Example: I don't need it any more; you can just toss it.
To stir or mix (a salad).
Example: to toss a salad; a tossed salad.
(British slang) To masturbate
To search (a room or a cell), sometimes leaving visible disorder, as for valuables or evidence of a crime.
Example: "Someone tossed just his living room and bedroom." / "They probably found what they were looking for."
To roll and tumble; to be in violent commotion.
Example: tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep
To be tossed, as a fleet on the ocean, or as a ship in heavy seas.
To keep in play; to tumble over.
Example: to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar
To peak (the oars), to lift them from the rowlocks and hold them perpendicularly, the handle resting on the bottom of the boat.
(British slang) To drink in large draughts; to gulp.
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noun
The motion of something that tosses; a throwing or sudden rising and falling.
The process of washing ores by violent agitation in water, in order to separate the lighter or earthy particles; tozing.
A process for refining tin by dropping it through the air while melted.
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adjective
Used to disparage or curse someone or something.
Example: I can't get this tossing program to work.
