toss off

English

Pronunciation

Audio (General Australian): (file)

Verb

toss off (third-person singular simple present tosses off, present participle tossing off, simple past and past participle tossed off)

(transitive, dated) To drink up rapidly.
Synonym: throw back

Let me toss off this beer first.
- 1844 March 16, “Partiality of animals for wine, spirits, &c.”, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction‎^[1], volume 5 (New Series), number 11, page 164:
  A mandrill baboon, at Wombwell's menagerie, was very partial to fermented liquors and ginger beer; the large dog-faced baboon, that died at the Tower in 1828, would toss off a pot of porter with great relish, and was such an excessive toper that he at last sunk under a confirmed dropsy; a young ruffed lemur, at the Paris Museum of Natural History, was partial to spirits; […]
- 1883, Parke Godwin, quoting William Cullen Bryant, “Chapter 49: The last year: A.D. 1878”, in The Life and Works of William Cullen Bryant: A Biography of William Cullen Bryant, With Extracts From His Private Correspondence‎^[2], volume 2, New York: D. Appleton and Company, page 393:
  They drank the health of the Nestor of American poets, and the said Nestor thanked them in German, for all the speeches were in the German language. The beer was a very light tipple, and it seemed to me that one must toss off a good many pots of it before becoming tipsy. I am to go to a private dinner to-night, the last of the Taylor festivities.
(transitive) To assemble hastily.
Synonym: fire off

Coordinate terms: throw together, slap together, whip up

I tossed off a letter to the local council.
(British, vulgar, slang, ambitransitive) To masturbate.
Synonyms: jerk off; see also Thesaurus:masturbate
(transitive) To deliver (a remark, suggestion, etc.) in an offhand manner.
Coordinate term: throw out

He tossed off a few platitudes and then ignored any further questions.
- 2017 August 13, Brandon Nowalk, “Oldtown offers one last game-changing secret as Game Of Thrones goes behind enemy lines (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎^[3]:
  Tyrion tells him a great house (the Tyrells) has already been wiped out of history. “Don’t let it happen again.” But he says it like a trusted authority, a casual command, not taking the boy seriously. Basically, he tosses off the line, expecting that to be the end of the conversation

Related terms

Translations

to drink up rapidly

Finnish: heittää huiviin, nakata naamaan
Swedish: stjälpa (sv), svepa (sv)

to masturbate

Finnish: vetää käteen