throw-off

See also: throw off

English

Alternative forms

• throwoff, throw off

Noun

throw-off (plural throw-offs)

1. (UK) A start in a hunt or a race.
   • 1870 July, Wat Bradwood, “Our Drag”, in The Sporting magazine, volume 69, page 122:

     We had not covered much more than three miles since the throw-off; but horses and hounds already exhibited a most interesting and picturesque tail.

   • 1874, Every Saturday, page 136:

     The sixty horsemen spread away for the start, the two pretty Amazons set their lips, a mob of peasants in blue blouses form a noisy fringing to the phaetons and barouches which have come to see the throw-off, and conspicuous amidst all this we have M. Pistache's roan, which, unable to stand the music of the horns, first jumps, then pivots on its hind legs, then springs off like a shot, well-nigh wrenching M. Pistache's arms out of their sockets.

   • 1903, Émile Zola, Rome, page 306:

     The 'throw-off' was at one o'clock, and the gallop lasted more than two hours and a half, so that the fox had a very long run.

   • 2017, Thomas Smith, Sporting Incidents in the Life of Another Tom Smith:

     On one occasion the meet was at Boughton House, the seat of the Duke of Buccleuch, when, just before the throw-off, the keeper requested Mr. Smith to come with him to see a curious matter.

   • 2020, Rolf Boldrewood, Babes in the Bush:

     He would be available as a chaperon for the feminine division, as he did not intend to do more than canter a mile or two after the throw-off.

2. A race in which a contestant is paid to deliberately lose.
   • 1864, Spirit of the Times and the New York Sportsman, page 353:

     Since the spring of 1863 there has never been a throw-off race, nor shall there ever be a race on the track for hippodroming; all must be on the square, as the club started it for their own fun and to work their horses on.

   • 1973, Alfred Doten, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, The Journals of Alfred Doten, 1849-1903, page 630:

     By many it was thought to be a "throw off" race, and that Selaya did not do his best – I was inclined also to the opinion, although I may have been wrong

   • 1994, Ted Vincent, The Rise and Fall of American Sport: Mudville's Revenge, page 44:

     Fixed races, or "throw-offs, as they were called, were common enough to keep sprint running relegated to outlying areas during the 1870s.

   • 1999, William Arthur Harper, How You Played the Game: The Life of Grantland Rice, page 51:

     Given that the stakes on the side were always higher than on the main event itself, "throw-offs" ( fixed races ) were common, with the lowly paid hired athletic hands agreeing to throw a race for the right price; sometimes they would lay down for any price since they were often stiffed by the race backers anyway.

3. A control that engages or disengages part of the mechanism on a device without having to turn the device off.
   • 1890, Karnac, “What I have seen”, in Inland Printer, American Lithographer, volume 8, page 868:

     I have seen a corporation erect a $60,000 building, including $500 expende in decorating the business office, and still do its job printing on ancient Degeners, unprovided with throw-offs or ink fountains, while the business manager was perplexed to see his competitors, provided with modern machinery, take long runs of presswork at prices he could not touch except at a considerable loss.

   • 1892 February 9, Jacob B. Knudsen, “Air-Brake”, in Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, page 679:

     In air-brake mechanism, the combination, with the air-pump of a connecting-arm adapted to engage the piston-rod of said pump, a shifting frame for operating said connecting-arm, a throw-off bar for throwing said connecting arm out of engagement with said piston-rod, a pivot-rod and pivot-pin for sustaining said throw-off bar, a top plate for sustaining said throw-off bar, suitable springs for giving to said throw-off bar an elastic support, and suitable means for operating said throw-off bar, substantially as described.

   • 1894, Lawrence Lewis, Adelbert Hamilton, John Houston Merrill, The American and English Railroad Cases:

     A throw-off switch which would have derailed the cars if left undistubed was closed so as to lead the cars on the side track down a moderate grade, until it joined the main track.

   • 1912, Reports of Civil and Criminal Cases Decided by the Court of .Appeals of Kentucky, page 513:

     The chief difference between the two presses is that the Curtis press has an attachment known as the "trip" or "throw-off," which is used to prevent the embossing without stopping the machine when a sheet is improperly placed in the machine.

   • 2017, Stewart Hoffman, The Band Teacher's Percussion Guide:

     Make sure the snare throw-off is in the off (lowered) position and set the adjustment knob roughly midway between the tightest and loosest tension position.

4. (sports) A throw taken to resume play, such as after a goal or at the start of a period.
   • 1929, American Physical Education Review - Volume 34, page 306:

     When a player of the side having the throw-off at the center, crosses the halfway line ahead of the ball, he is "off-side" and the ball shall be called back for a second throw from a new line five yards back of the halfway line.

   • 1979, Craig T. Norback, Peter G. Norback, The New American Guide to Athletics, Sports & Recreation, page 222:

     The teams shall alternate throw-offs at the beginning of each period.

   • 2003, Dorothy Zakrajsek, Lois Carnes, Frank E. Pettigrew, Quality Lesson Plans for Secondary Physical Education, page 574:

     Thereafter, throw-offs occur after every goal.

   • 2011, William Henry, Water Polo:

     When a goal was scored, instead of lining up at their respective ends, the teams took up their positions, the forward lines being three feet from the center of the pond; and when starting the ball the centre forward of the team against whom the goal had been scored had the throw-off, but had to pass to either wing, and not back.

   • 2014, Chris Kroeger, Volleyball Drills:

     Precise and well-timed throw-offs are essential.

5. (accounting) Income minus expenses and depreciation (before tax).
   • 1968, Richard Leo Pollock, The Tax Depreciation Problem, page 289:

     In the case of the single investment, both the tax payments and the quasi-rent throw-off would be only for the single investment being evaluated.

   • 1975, Allan Craig, Counting Things and Magic Rings, page 150:

     If the expanded fund throw-offs "reflect success" of a company in terms of "profits," they should be shipped back to the Internal Revenue Service, to the company's employees, and to the company's supply vendors to whom they belong, from whom they have been borrowed by the company, and whose claims on the apparent company resource accrual accounting, as contrasted with "cash" accounting, attempts to faithfully recount.

   • 1992, United States. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Reviewing Annual and Monthly Financial Reports, pages 2-76:

     Since the net cash throw-off is calculated using the accrual method of accounting employed on Form HUD - 92410, expenses included in the computation may not have been paid.

   • 2009, Gary W. Eldred, Investing in Real Estate, page 23:

     Net income after mortgage payments (cash throw-off) equals $3,394 ($10,000 NOI less $6,606).

6. (by extension) A discount on a debt or invoice due to a problem with the asset being paid for.
   • 1913, United States. Congress. Joint Committee on Postage on Second-Class Mail Matter and Compensation for Transportation of Mail, Railway Mail Pay:

     Then there is, I think, $25,000 extra allowed in the appropriation to pay for extra service at the rate of 4 cents per mile, where the amount of service is very great and the number of throw-offs very great.

   • 1950, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Banking and Currency, Bank Holding Bill, page 267:

     I was a little impressed with the categorical list of throw-offs that you wanted taken out of this bill.

   • 1952, George Mandel, Flee the Angry Strangers, page 331:

     Can't last another month without a throw-off deal from pig 'cause Wengel 'buses the blind.

7. The act of flinging or throwing something off.
   • 1939, Leaflets, with Contents:

     Too much belt dressing gradually builds up lumps on belt and pulley surfaces, causes belt throw-offs, and may break belt lacing.

   • 1947, United States. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, Technical Note - National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, page 9:

     Although the dishpan is of small diameter, this irregular throw-off of ice could contribute to propeller unbalance in icing conditions particularly at higher fan speeds.

   • 1980, United States. Congress. House. Committee on Appropriations. Subcommittee on Department of the Interior and Related Agencies, Department of the Interior and Related Agencies, page 722:

     How dangerous is it to the community at large in the sense of the throw-offs of gases and other chemical products?

   • 2006, Howard Jones, Dakotaland: Tales of the Territory, page 162:

     After that, Beauty and I slowly developed an understanding. There were more fall-offs and throw-offs. The pace of travel picked up from walking to a tight-rein trot, then to a little loping canter for short distances.

8. Something that is flung or thrown off.
   • 1995, Joseph Harralson ·, Design of Racing and High Performance Engines, page 230:

     This oil throwing condition had two principle aspects: first, the oil was subjected to considerable windage by the action of the crankshaft; secondly, since it is necessary to circulate a large amount of oil through the engine due to large bearing clearances required for lubrication and cooling, this results in more throw-off.

   • 2012, George Zebrowski, The Omega Point:

     Many stellar mappers consider the planet to be one of a chain of widely spaced bridge stars linking the spiral arms of our galaxy with the Magellanic Clouds, which are throw-offs from our main system.

9. The deflection of a projectile at an angle.
   • 1904, John Patrick Mannock, S. A. Mussabini, Billiards Expounded to All Degrees of Amateur Players, page 305:

     You have to judge the angle of the throw-off and the impact point.

   • 2011, D. Gkritzapis, E. Panagiotopoulos, “In-Bore Yaw Effects on Lateral throwoff and Aerodynamic Jump Behavior for Small Caliber Projectiles Firing Sidewise from Air Vehicles”, in Ernest Baker, Douglas Templeton, editor, Ballistics 2011: 26th International Symposium, page 458:

     The present study investigates the effects of in bore-yaw phenomenon on lateral throw-off and aerodynamic jump behavior for small caliber rotational symmetric (both in configuration and mass distribution) projectiles launched horizontally at supersonic firing speeds and various altitudes from high-subsonic air vehicles.

   • 2013, Riso Levi, Billiards in the Twentieth Century:

     Their wider throw-off angle makes billiards a far less difficult game than it is with ivories.

   • 2016, Billiards - Screw, Side and Top:

     Not only is this exact striking of the object-ball of the utmost importance for the throw-off of the cue-ball, but also in the matter of steering the object-ball to the desired after-positions.

10. Something that has been discarded; a castoff.
    • 1947, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations, Hearings, page 2:

      I say the younger Senators who got the throw-offs of everybody else.

    • 2001, Elizabeth A. Wheeler, Uncontained: Urban Fiction in Postwar America, page 186:

      They returned home laden with throw-offs : the old clothes which the Jews had given them.

    • 2020, Charmaine Ross, Claimed by the Alien Space Pirate:

      She knew how to live on the streets, find food from other people's throw-offs, find shelter beneath cardboard.

    • 2021, Thomas Cannon, Shattered:

      I'm there for the chicks, Mikey. You professional comdians get all the tail. I just want your throw-offs.

11. A red herring; something intended to throw people off.
    • 1952, Collier's Once a Week - Volume 130, page 65:

      To protect against sign stealing, I employ a lot of what we call 'throw-offs', gestures after I have already given the sign which mean nothing but may fool the foe into thinking that one of them is a sign.

    • 1957 April, Stanley Pashko, “Inside Baseball”, in Boys' Life, volume 47, number 4, page 74:

      He goes through a whole series of fake movements which make him look as if itching powder had been dumped inside his shirt, and mixed in with all the "throw-offs" is the genuine sign.

    • 2013, John Gardner, The Quiet Dogs:

      Lying on his bed, the night before starting his own two-day marathon of technique training, Herbie listened to the magnificent Mahler Eighth—the Symphony of a Thousand—and made the divisions in his mind: Anti-Surveillance, watching your own back; Throw-offs and Back-doubles; Misdirection; Emergency exists—just in case there was no other way.

12. Something that is done, made, or said informally, on the side, or off-the-cuff.
    • 1970, Ronald Peacock, Goethe's Major Plays, page 207:

      Slight plays like Die Geschwister, or the brief comedies like Der Bürgergeneral, although based on potentially important Goethean themes, remain mere sketches from an artist's notebook; whilst the musical pieces and entertainments, brillian and charming, no doubt, are clever throw-offs of an enormously fertile poetic fancy.

    • 1975, Eric Berne, What Do You Say After You Say Hello?:, page 485:

      The third line should be a throw-off, e.g.: 'Hello.' 'Hello.' 'Groovy.' 'Yeah.' 'The lighting, I mean.' 'Oh, I thought you meant the music,'

    • 1979, United States. Department of the Army, Physical security, page 49:

      References (including those not furnished by applicant or employee.) These are known as throw-offs, and their names are obtained during interviews of references furnished by applicants or employees ).

    • 2010, Julian Spalding, The Best Art You've Never Seen, page 215:

      These are a remarkable survival, made of fragile unfired, painted clay, the spontaneous throw-offs of a master who became famous as a lithographer rather than a sculptor.

    • 2015, Karen Lamb, Thea Astley: Inventing Her Own Weather, page 137:

      Astley's characters, said White, were 'flimsy' or 'repulsive', 'throw-offs' from an 'impatient ego'.

    • 2019, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Here and Now Story Book: Two- to seven-year-olds:

      The best books that we have for children are throw-offs from artists primarily concerned with adults , —Kipling and Stevenson stand in this group , —or child versions of adult literature , —from Charles and Mary Lamb down.

    • 2022, Hugh MacDiarmid, Duncan Glen, Selected Essays of Hugh MacDiarmid, page 34:

      He is as prolific as an iceberg; his throw-offs populate the oceans.

13. A byproduct, spinoff, or incidental creation.
    • 1992, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Services, Department of Defense Authorization for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1993, page 378:

      In terms of the way this question is worded, in responding to it I would have to say that nothing but the most liberal approach should be followed in order to advance this industry and its throw-offs to the United States and world economies.

    • 2011, Philip M. Wagner, Grapes into Wine, page 21:

      Endless numbers of local variants, genetic throw-offs, or accidental recombinations provide individuality and occasionally superior quality.

    • 2016, Robert Sobel, The Great Boom 1950-2000:

      This spending had repercussions in the civilian sector as throw-offs,” ranging from airliners to digital dialing, became more common.

    • 2019, Kenneth R. Miller, The Human Instinct, page 3:

      In Harris's interpretation of the evolutionary narrative, we seem to be nothing more than casual throw-offs, byproducts of a universe far greater than our imagination, a universe in which we are no more than thoughtless works of nature.

Anagrams

• offthrow