toss off
phrasal verb
tossed off; tossing off; tosses off
1
informal
: to produce (something) quickly and without much effort
He tossed off a few lines of poetry.
2
informal
: to drink (something) quickly
He tossed off a shot of whiskey.
3
British, informal + impolite
: to touch or rub one's own sexual organs for sexual pleasure : to masturbate
Examples of toss off in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
He’s left a distinctive stamp on the orchestra’s sound in the years since, whether declaiming the beginning of Mahler 5 with a preacher’s conviction or, as in a recent Ravinia concert, tossing off a ragtime solo with waggish virtuosity.
—
Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2024
She’s not appreciated at home, where her ailing mother Jean (Melanie Nicholls-King) can barely be coaxed off the couch without tossing off a combative word at her daughter.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 9 July 2024
From being used as a dog’s food bowl to being tossed off a deck into a pool, the Stanley Cup has never just been regalia to be stored in a team’s trophy case.
—Kaushik Sampath, Miami Herald, 26 June 2024
The Fall Guy David Leitch’s action-comedy mystery romance set in the world of stunt professionals is an act of pure movie love, mixing and matching genres while tossing off in-jokes and references to its illustrious (and not-so-illustrious) forebears.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 June 2024
Gunmen roamed the streets; members of Hamas were shot or simply disappeared; and at least one was tossed off the roof of a 12-story building.
—Dalia Hatuqa, Foreign Affairs, 25 Mar. 2017
Corsets, heavy wigs and other restrictive sartorial norms were tossed off to make way for flowing, transparent dresses, handbags as statement pieces and toucan feathers sewn into white crepe dresses — a look that Joséphine Bonaparte, future empress of France, wore to a ball.
—Dina Gachman, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2024
That’s partly because reports of vacationers in Airbnb and other short-term rentals luring black bears with raspberries and strips of bacon tossed off the decks of mountain chalets could hamper lucrative income streams.
—Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2024
Hammel is an appealing screen presence, tossing off inappropriate remarks with blithe abandon and making Karla the sort of friend who’s both endearing and exasperating — her affection often barbed and her opportunism unapologetic.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Hannah Edgar, Chicago Tribune, 5 Aug. 2024
She’s not appreciated at home, where her ailing mother Jean (Melanie Nicholls-King) can barely be coaxed off the couch without tossing off a combative word at her daughter.
—Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 9 July 2024
From being used as a dog’s food bowl to being tossed off a deck into a pool, the Stanley Cup has never just been regalia to be stored in a team’s trophy case.
—Kaushik Sampath, Miami Herald, 26 June 2024
The Fall Guy David Leitch’s action-comedy mystery romance set in the world of stunt professionals is an act of pure movie love, mixing and matching genres while tossing off in-jokes and references to its illustrious (and not-so-illustrious) forebears.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 4 June 2024
Gunmen roamed the streets; members of Hamas were shot or simply disappeared; and at least one was tossed off the roof of a 12-story building.
—Dalia Hatuqa, Foreign Affairs, 25 Mar. 2017
Corsets, heavy wigs and other restrictive sartorial norms were tossed off to make way for flowing, transparent dresses, handbags as statement pieces and toucan feathers sewn into white crepe dresses — a look that Joséphine Bonaparte, future empress of France, wore to a ball.
—Dina Gachman, New York Times, 27 Apr. 2024
That’s partly because reports of vacationers in Airbnb and other short-term rentals luring black bears with raspberries and strips of bacon tossed off the decks of mountain chalets could hamper lucrative income streams.
—Louis Sahagún, Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2024
Hammel is an appealing screen presence, tossing off inappropriate remarks with blithe abandon and making Karla the sort of friend who’s both endearing and exasperating — her affection often barbed and her opportunism unapologetic.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'toss off.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Toss off.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/toss%20off. Accessed 5 Nov. 2024.
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