Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Throw

Throw

(thrō)
,
Noun.
[See
Throe
.]
Pain; especially, pain of travail; throe.
[Obs.]
Spenser. Dryden.

Throw

,
Noun.
[AS.
þrāh
,
þrāg
.]
Time; while; space of time; moment; trice.
[Obs.]
Shak.
I will with Thomas speak a little
throw
.
Chaucer.

Throw

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp.
Threw
(thrṳ)
;
p. p.
Thrown
(thrōn)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Throwing
.]
[OE.
þrowen
,
þrawen
, to throw, to twist, AS.
þrāwan
to twist, to whirl; akin to D.
draaijen
, G.
drehen
, OHG.
drājan
, L.
terebra
an auger, gimlet, Gr. [GREEK] to bore, to turn, [GREEK] to pierce, [GREEK] a hole. Cf.
Thread
,
Trite
,
Turn
,
Verb.
T.
]
1.
To fling, cast, or hurl with a certain whirling motion of the arm, to throw a ball; – distinguished from to toss, or to bowl.
2.
To fling or cast in any manner; to drive to a distance from the hand or from an engine; to propel; to send;
as, to
throw
stones or dust with the hand; a cannon
throws
a ball; a fire engine
throws
a stream of water to extinguish flames
.
3.
To drive by violence;
as, a vessel or sailors may be
thrown
upon a rock
.
4.
(Mil.)
To cause to take a strategic position;
as, he
threw
a detachment of his army across the river
.
5.
To overturn; to prostrate in wrestling;
as, a man
throws
his antagonist
.
6.
To cast, as dice; to venture at dice.
Set less than thou
throwest
.
Shakespeare
7.
To put on hastily; to spread carelessly.
O’er his fair limbs a flowery vest he
threw
.
Pope.
8.
To divest or strip one's self of; to put off.
There the snake
throws
her enameled skin.
Shakespeare
9.
(Pottery)
To form or shape roughly on a throwing engine, or potter's wheel, as earthen vessels.
10.
To give forcible utterance to; to cast; to vent.
I have
thrown

A brave defiance in King Henry's teeth.
Shakespeare
11.
To bring forth; to produce, as young; to bear; – said especially of rabbits.
12.
To twist two or more filaments of, as silk, so as to form one thread; to twist together, as singles, in a direction contrary to the twist of the singles themselves; – sometimes applied to the whole class of operations by which silk is prepared for the weaver.
Tomlinson.
To throw away
.
(a)
To lose by neglect or folly; to spend in vain; to bestow without a compensation;
as,
to throw away
time;
to throw away
money
.
(b)
To reject;
as,
to throw away
a good book, or a good offer
.
–
To throw back
.
(a)
To retort; to cast back, as a reply.
(b)
To reject; to refuse.
(c)
To reflect, as light.
–
To throw by
,
to lay aside; to discard; to neglect as useless;
as,
to throw by
a garment
.
–
To throw down
,
to subvert; to overthrow; to destroy;
as,
to throw down
a fence or wall
.
–
To throw in
.
(a)
To inject, as a fluid.
(b)
To put in; to deposit with others; to contribute;
as,
to throw in
a few dollars to help make up a fund;
to throw in
an occasional comment
.
(c)
To add without enumeration or valuation, as something extra to clinch a bargain.
–
To throw off
.
(a)
To expel; to free one's self from;
as,
to throw off
a disease
.
(b)
To reject; to discard; to abandon;
as,
to throw off
all sense of shame;
to throw off
a dependent
.
(c)
To make a start in a hunt or race.
[Eng.]
–
To throw on
,
to cast on; to load.
–
To throw one's self down
,
to lie down neglectively or suddenly.
–
To throw one's self on
or
To throw one's self upon
.
(a)
To fall upon.
(b)
To resign one's self to the favor, clemency, or sustain power of (another); to repose upon.
–
To throw out
.
(a)
To cast out; to reject or discard; to expel.
“The other two, whom they had thrown out, they were content should enjoy their exile.”
Swift.
“The bill was thrown out.”
Swift.
(b)
To utter; to give utterance to; to speak;
as,
to throw out
insinuation or observation
.
“She throws out thrilling shrieks.”
Spenser.
(c)
To distance; to leave behind.
Addison.
(d)
To cause to project;
as,
to throw out
a pier or an abutment
.
(e)
To give forth; to emit;
as, an electric lamp
throws out
a brilliant light
.
(f)
To put out; to confuse;
as, a sudden question often
throws out
an orator
.
–
To throw over
,
to abandon the cause of; to desert; to discard;
as,
to throw over
a friend in difficulties
.
–
To throw up
.
(a)
To resign; to give up; to demit;
as,
to throw up
a commission
.
“Experienced gamesters throw up their cards when they know that the game is in the enemy's hand.”
Addison.
(b)
To reject from the stomach; to vomit.
(c)
To construct hastily;
as,
to throw up
a breastwork of earth
.

Throw

,
Verb.
I.
To perform the act of throwing or casting; to cast; specifically, to cast dice.
To throw about
,
to cast about; to try expedients.
[R.]

Throw

,
Noun.
1.
The act of hurling or flinging; a driving or propelling from the hand or an engine; a cast.
He heaved a stone, and, rising to the
throw
,
He sent it in a whirlwind at the foe.
Addison.
2.
A stroke; a blow.
[Obs.]
Nor shield defend the thunder of his
throws
.
Spenser.
3.
The distance which a missile is, or may be, thrown;
as, a stone's
throw
.
4.
A cast of dice; the manner in which dice fall when cast;
as, a good
throw
.
5.
An effort; a violent sally.
[Obs.]
Your youth admires
The
throws
and swellings of a Roman soul.
Addison.
6.
(Mach.)
The extreme movement given to a sliding or vibrating reciprocating piece by a cam, crank, eccentric, or the like; travel; stroke;
as, the
throw
of a slide valve
. Also, frequently, the length of the radius of a crank, or the eccentricity of an eccentric;
as, the
throw
of the crank of a steam engine is equal to half the stroke of the piston
.
7.
(Pottery)
A potter's wheel or table; a jigger. See 2d
Jigger
, 2
(a)
.
8.
A turner's lathe; a throwe.
[Prov. Eng.]
9.
(Mining)
The amount of vertical displacement produced by a fault; – according to the direction it is designated as an upthrow, or a downthrow.

Webster 1828 Edition

Throw

THROW

,
Verb.
T.
pret. threw; pp. thrown. [Gr. to run; L. trochilus.]
1.
Properly, to hurl; to whirl; to fling or cast in a winding direction.
2.
To fling or cast in any manner; to propel; to send; to drive to a distance from the hand or from an engine. Thus we throw stones or dust with the hand; a cannon throws a ball; a bomb throws a shell. The Roman balista threw various weapons. A fire engine throws water to extinguish flames.
3.
To wind; as, to throw silk.
4.
To turn; as, to throw balls in a lathe.
[Not in general use.]
5.
To venture at dice.
Set less than thou throwest.
6.
To cast; to divest or strip one's self of; to put off; as, a serpent throws his skin.
7.
To cast; to send.
I have thrown
A brave defiance in king Henry's teeth.
8.
To put on; to spread carelessly.
O'er his fair limbs a flow'ry vest he threw.
9.
To overturn; to prostrate in wrestling; as, a man throws his antagonist.
10. To cast; to drive by violence; as a vessel or sailors thrown upon a rock.
To throw away, to lose by neglect or folly; to spend in vain; as, to throw away time; to throw away money.
1.
To bestow without a compensation.
2.
To reject; as, to throw away a good book, or a good offer.
To throw by, to lay aside or neglect as useless; as, to throw by a garment.
To throw down, to subvert; to overthrow; to destroy; as, to throw down a fence or wall.
1.
To bring down from a high station; to depress.
To throw in, to inject.
1.
To put in; to deposit with others; also, to give up or relinquish.
To throw off, to expel; to clear from; as, to throw off a disease.
1.
To reject; to discard; as, to throw off all sense of shame; to throw off a dependent.
To throw on, to cast on; to load.
To throw out, to cast out; to reject or discard; to expel.
1.
To utter carelessly; to speak; as, to throw out insinuations or observations.
2.
To exert; to bring forth into act.
She throws out thrilling shrieks.
3.
To distance; to leave behind.
4.
To exclude; to reject. The bill was thrown out on the second reading.
To throw up, to resign; as, to throw up a commission.
1.
To resign angrily.
Bad games are thrown up too soon.
2.
To discharge from the stomach.
To throw one's self down, to lie down.
To throw one's self on, to resign one's self to the favor, clemency or sustaining power of another; to repose.

THROW

,
Verb.
I.
To perform the act of throwing.
1.
To cast dice.
To throw about, to cast about; to try expedients. [Not much used.]

THROW

,
Noun.
The act of hurling or flinging; a cast; a driving or propelling from the hand or from an engine.
He heav'd a stone, and rising to the throw,
He sent it in a whirlwind at the foe.
1.
A cast of dice; and the manner in which dice fall when cast; as a good throw. None but a fool hazards all upon one throw.
2.
The distance which a missile is or may be thrown; as a stone's throw.
3.
A stroke; a blow.
Nor shield defend the thunder of his throws.
4.
Effort; violent sally.
Your youth admires
The throws and swellings of a Roman soul.
5.
The agony of travail. [See Throe.]
6.
A turner's lathe. [Local.]

Definition 2024

throw

throw

English

Verb

throw ‎(third-person singular simple present throws, present participle throwing, simple past threw, past participle thrown)

  1. (obsolete, Scotland, Northern England) To twist or turn.
    A thrown nail.‎
  2. (transitive) To hurl; to cause an object to move rapidly through the air.
    throw a shoe;   throw a javelin;   the horse threw its rider‎
    • 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
      When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.
  3. (transitive) To eject or cause to fall off.
    • Shakespeare
      There the snake throws her enamelled skin.
  4. (transitive) To move to another position or condition; to displace.
    throw the switch‎
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 17, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything. In a moment she had dropped to the level of a casual labourer.
  5. (ceramics) To make (a pot) by shaping clay as it turns on a wheel.
  6. (transitive, cricket) Of a bowler, to deliver (the ball) illegally by straightening the bowling arm during delivery.
  7. (transitive, computing) To send (an error) to an exception-handling mechanism in order to interrupt normal processing.
    If the file is read-only, the method throws an invalid operation exception.‎
  8. (sports) To intentionally lose a game.
    The tennis player was accused of taking bribes to throw the match.‎
    • 2012, August 1. Peter Walker and Haroon Siddique in Guardian Unlimited, Eight Olympic badminton players disqualified for 'throwing games'
      Four pairs of women's doubles badminton players, including the Chinese top seeds, have been ejected from the Olympic tournament for trying to throw matches in an effort to secure a more favourable quarter-final draw.
  9. (transitive, informal) To confuse or mislead.
    The deliberate red herring threw me at first.‎
    • 1999, Jan Blackstone-Ford, The Custody Solutions Sourcebook - Page 196
      "Jann, why does he hate me so much?" That question threw me. I was expecting a lunatic yelling profanities.
  10. (figuratively) To send desperately.
    Their sergeant threw the troops into pitched battle.‎
    • 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0-2 Fulham”, in BBC:
      Stoke threw men forward in numbers as they attempted to find a way back into the game, and Mark Schwarzer was forced into a low save from Huth's close-range effort.
  11. (transitive) To imprison.
    The magistrate ordered the suspect to be thrown into jail.‎
    • 1818, Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
      The plot of Felix was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatha were thrown into prison.
    • 1993, Margaret McKee, Fred Chisenhall, Beale black & blue: life and music on black America's main street - Page 30
      The standard method of dealing with an addict was to arrest him, throw him into a cell, and leave him until the agonizing pangs of withdrawal were over.
  12. To organize an event, especially a party.
    • 1986 March 1, “Bash Planned”, in Evening News:
      And now, Clevelanders hoping to bring the Rock Roll Hall of Fame to their city are throwing a bash to commemorate the 34th birthday of disc Jockey Alan Freed's "Moondog Coronation Ball".
    • 1979, Working Mother - July 1979 Page 72
      Should you be interested, for whatever reason, it will tell you how to throw a party for your 40-year-old husband or your 100-year-old great-grandmother. It also describes games that can be played at various kinds of parties […]
  13. To roll (a die or dice).
    • 1844, Samuel Laing translating Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla
      The kings came to the agreement between themselves that they would cast lots by the dice to determine who should have this property, and that he who threw the highest should have the district. The Swedish king threw two sixes, and said King Olaf need scarcely throw.
  14. (transitive) To cause a certain number on the die or dice to be shown after rolling it.
    • 1844, Samuel Laing translating Snorri Sturluson, Heimskringla
      The kings came to the agreement between themselves that they would cast lots by the dice to determine who should have this property, and that he who threw the highest should have the district. The Swedish king threw two sixes, and said King Olaf need scarcely throw.
  15. (transitive, bridge) To discard.
  16. (martial arts) To lift the opponent off the ground and bring him back down, especially into a position behind the thrower.
  17. (transitive) To subject someone to verbally.
    • 2007 June 11, Claude Salhani, “Analysis: Irony of Bush's European tour”, in UPI:
      In other European cities the president visited this week, people waited for his motorcade to pass to throw insults at him, requiring the police to intervene with batons, water cannons and tear gas.
  18. (transitive, said of animals) To give birth to.
    • 1916, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association: Volume 49
      At the end of the normal gestation period the cow threw two calf mummies as large as cats.
  19. (transitive, said of one's voice) To change in order to give the illusion that the voice is that of someone else.
  20. (transitive) To show sudden emotion, especially anger.
    • 1991, Janet L. Davies, Ellen Hastings Janosik, Mental health and psychiatric nursing: a caring approach
      Bill runs into the kitchen and tells Dad that Erik is throwing a tantrum. He tells Bill to go back and watch his program and to ignore his brother. Fifteen minutes later, Erik is still screaming […]
    • 1996, New York Magazine Vol. 29, No. 32 - 19 Aug 1996; Entertaining Mrs Stone
      In 1975, pregnant with the second of her three children, she threw a hissy fit to get on a trip to Boston for elected officials.
  21. (transitive) To project or send forth.
  22. To put on hastily; to spread carelessly.
    • Alexander Pope
      O'er his fair limbs a flowery vest he threw.
  23. To twist two or more filaments of (silk, etc.) so as to form one thread; to twist together, as singles, in a direction contrary to the twist of the singles themselves; sometimes applied to the whole class of operations by which silk is prepared for the weaver.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Tomlinson to this entry?)
  24. (baseball, slang, of a team, a manager, etc.) To select (a pitcher); to assign a pitcher to a given role (such as starter or reliever).
    • 2009, Michael T. Lynch, Jr., It Ain't So: A Might-Have-Been History of the White Sox in 1919 and Beyond, page 63 ISBN 0786441895
      I have a minor quibble with Gleason's decision to throw Lefty Williams in Game Eight with the Series in the balance.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
References

Noun

throw ‎(plural throws)

  1. The flight of a thrown object
    What a great throw by the quarterback!
  2. The act of throwing something.
    With an accurate throw, he lassoed the cow.
  3. One's ability to throw
    He's got a girl's throw.
    He's always had a pretty decent throw.
  4. A distance travelled; displacement; as, the throw of the piston.
  5. A piece of fabric used to cover a bed, sofa or other soft furnishing.
  6. A single instance, occurrence, venture, or chance.
    Football tickets are expensive at fifty bucks a throw.
Translations

Derived terms

References

  • Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter Vol. 11, Number 1.

Etymology 2

From Middle English throwe, alteration of thrawe, from Old English þrāwu ‎(“labor pang, agony in childbirth or death”), akin to Old English þrēa ‎(“affliction, pang”), þrōwan ‎(“to suffer”). More at throe.

Noun

throw ‎(plural throws)

  1. Pain, especially pain associated with childbirth; throe.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
  2. (veterinary) The act of giving birth in animals, especially in cows.

Etymology 3

From Middle English, from Old English þrāh, þrāg ‎(“space of time, period, while”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps related to Gothic 𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 ‎(þragjan, “to run”).

Noun

throw ‎(plural throws)

  1. (obsolete) A moment, time, occasion.
  2. (obsolete) A period of time; a while.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.iv:
      Downe himselfe he layd / Vpon the grassie ground, to sleepe a throw; / The cold earth was his couch, the hard steele his pillow.
Synonyms

Etymology 4

Noun

throw

  1. Misspelling of throe.

Anagrams

Etymology

From Middle English throwen, thrawen, from Old English þrāwan ‎(“to turn, twist, curl, rack, torture, turn around”), from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną ‎(“to turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁-‎ ‎(“to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn”). Cognate with Scots thraw ‎(“to twist, turn, throw”), Dutch draaien ‎(“to turn”), Low German draien, dreien ‎(“to turn (in a lathe)”), German drehen ‎(“to turn”), Danish dreje ‎(“to turn”), Swedish dreja ‎(“to turn”), Albanian dredh ‎(“to turn, twist, tremble”).

Pronunciation

  • (UK) enPR: thrō, IPA(key): /θɹəʊ/
  • (US) enPR: thrō, IPA(key): /θɹoʊ/
  • Rhymes: -əʊ
  • Homophone: throe

Similar Results