/θɹəʊ/, [θɾ̪̊əʊ], /θɹoʊ/
OriginFrom Middle English throwen, thrawen, from Old English þrāwan (“to turn, twist”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrāan, from Proto-Germanic *þrēaną (“to twist, turn”), from Proto-Indo-European *terh₁- (“to rub, rub by twisting, twist, turn”).
Cognate with Scots thraw (“to twist, turn, throw”), West Frisian triuwe (“to push”), Dutch draaien (“to turn”), Low German draien, dreien (“to turn (in a lathe)”), German drehen (“to turn”).
Displaced warp as the word for hurling and was displaced by warp as the word for twisting.
- transitiveTo hurl; to release (an object) with some force from one’s hands, an apparatus, etc. so that it moves rapidly through the air.
“throw a shoe; throw a javelin; the horse threw its rider”
“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 Brewste”
- transitiveTo eject or cause to fall off.
“There the snake throws her enamelled skin.”
- transitiveTo move to another position or condition; to displace.
“throw the switch”
“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, semps”
- transitiveTo make (a pot) by shaping clay as it turns on a wheel.
“Through practice, you’ll learn how to add the right amount of water as you throw a pot, and your fingers will feel when the pot has reached the proper thickness.”
- transitiveTo deliver (the ball) illegally by straightening the bowling arm during delivery.
- transitiveTo 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.”
- To intentionally lose a game.
“The tennis player was accused of taking bribes to throw the match.”
“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 qua”
- transitive(of a game where one’s role is throwing something) To perform in a specified way in (a match).
“The pitcher threw a perfect game.”
- informal, transitiveTo confuse or mislead.
“The deliberate red herring threw me at first.”
““Jann, why does he hate me so much?” That question threw me. I was expecting a lunatic yelling profanities.”
- figuratively, transitiveTo send hastily or desperately.
“Their sergeant threw the troops into pitched battle.”
“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.”
- transitiveTo imprison.
“The magistrate ordered the suspect to be thrown into jail.”
“The plot of Felix was quickly discovered, and De Lacey and Agatha were thrown into prison.”
“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.”
- transitiveTo organize an event, especially a party.
“She was known for throwing the craziest parties in college.”
“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”.”
“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 ”
- ambitransitiveTo roll (a die or dice).
“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 Swe”
- transitiveTo cause a certain number on the die or dice to be shown after rolling it.
“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 Swe”
- transitiveTo discard.
“Declarer threw his queen of spades on the high diamond. He then won the last three tricks with his ace, queen and nine of hearts behind East’s jack third.”
- To lift or unbalance one’s opponent and then bring him back down to the ground, especially into a position behind the thrower.
“So they stood up, and wrastled another while in silence. Soon the King made trial once again of the fall whereby he had sought to throw him in the first bout, twisting suddenly his right side against ”
- transitiveTo change (one’s voice) in order to give the illusion that the voice is that of someone else, or coming from a different place.
““Then, when I throw my voice, when I speak as someone who’s quite different from me, it starts to feel very authentic.””
- transitiveTo show sudden emotion, especially anger.
“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[…]”
“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.”
- transitiveTo project or send forth.
“Warwick left the undertaker's shop and retraced his steps until he had passed the lawyer’s office, toward which he threw an affectionate glance.”
“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.”
- To put on hastily; to spread carelessly.
“O’er his fair limbs a flowery vest he threw.”
- 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.
“A person named Crocket endeavoured to throw silk at Derby in the year 1702 ; but his machinery was imperfect”
- slang, usuallyTo select (a pitcher); to assign a pitcher to a given role (such as starter or reliever).
“I have a minor quibble with Gleason’s decision to throw Lefty Williams in Game Eight with the Series in the balance.”
- transitiveTo install (a bridge).
“[…] across the rapid smaragdus-green waters, pouring onward into the country, are thrown three bridges […]”
- Northern-England, Scotland, obsoleteTo twist or turn.
- Synonym of pass.
- transitiveTo deliver.
“[…] not only did I not want to throw a punch at him, I wanted to give him a solid silver token of thanks […]”
- transitiveOf animals: to give birth to (young).
“At the end of the normal gestation period the cow threw two calf mummies as large as cats.”
“They can kid twice a year if things are right, and they often throw twins and triplets.”
- The act of throwing something.
“With an accurate throw, he lassoed the cow.”
“What a great throw by the quarterback!”
“The gambler staked everything on one throw of the dice.”
- A move in which one lifts or unbalances one’s opponent and then brings him down to the ground.
- One’s ability to throw.
“He’s always had a pretty decent throw.”
- The distance travelled by something thrown.
“a stone's throw”
“Only on the north-east may aught save a winged thing come at the castle, across a smooth grass-grown saddle less than a stone’s throw in width.”
- The flight of a thrown object.
- A distance travelled in general; displacement.
“the throw of the piston”
“The visibility of the screen image is affected by the length of throw of the projector, the type of projector, the intensity of the projector lamp, and the type of the screen.”
- A piece of fabric used to cover a bed, sofa or other soft furnishing.
- informalA single instance, occurrence, venture, or chance.
“Football tickets are expensive at fifty bucks a throw.”
- Any of the projections integral to a crankshaft that receive or impart cranking motion from a connecting rod or similar component.
- historicalA hand-operated lathe, especially a small lathe used by clockmakers.
- obsoleteA moment, time, occasion.
- obsoleteA period of time; a while.
“Downe himselfe he layd
Vpon the grassie ground, to sleepe a throw;
The cold earth was his couch, the hard steele his pillow.”
Formsthrows(present, singular, third-person) · throwing(participle, present) · threw(past) · throwed(nonstandard, past) · thrown(participle, past) · throwed(nonstandard, participle, past) · threw(nonstandard, participle, past) · throw(infinitive) · throw(first-person, present, singular) · threw(first-person, past, singular) · throw(present, second-person, singular) · throwest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · threw(past, second-person, singular) · threwst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · throweth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · threw(past, singular, third-person) · throw(plural, present) · threw(past, plural) · throw(present, subjunctive) · threw(past, subjunctive)