[f. TOSS v.] An act of tossing.
1. A pitching up and down or to and fro.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., Ded. This poore Barque … hath endurde many tosses at Sea, and is now tost on Land.
1801. Southey, Thalaba, XI. xl. The little boat rides rapidly, And pitches now with shorter toss Upon the narrower swell.
a. 1849. Sir R. Wilson, in Life (1862), I. iii. 139. The continual toss almost made me mad.
1859. Habits Gd. Soc., ix. 286. The man who gives your hand one toss, as if he were ringing the dinner-bell.
† 2. A state of agitation or commotion. Obs.
1666. Pepys, Diary, 2 June. This put us at the Board into a tosse. Ibid. (1667), 10 Oct. Lord! what a tosse I was for some time in.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), II. 319. You can easily imagine what a toss I was in, to lie about a week aboard the ship for want of pratique.
1837. Longf., in Life (1891), I. 278. The Little-Pedlington community of Boston is in a great toss,… first about the college, and then about Dr. Channing and the abolitionists.
3. An act of casting, pitching, throwing, or hurling; a throw, a pitch. Full toss, in Cricket, the delivery of a ball that does not touch the ground in its flight between the wickets.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 119. The Criminal … expected death, a tosse or two at the least.
1833. Nyren, Yng. Cricketer’s Tutor, 81. By one stroke from a toss that he hit behind him, we got ten runs.
1862. Pycroft, Cricket Tutor, 52. Some balls of a loose sort—Volleys, Long-hops, and Tosses.
4. A sudden jerk; esp. a quick upward or backward movement of the head.
1676. Dryden, Man of Mode, Epil. 22. His various modes from various fathers follow; One taught the toss, and one the new French wallow.
1718. Free-thinker, No. 17, ¶ 8. She throws up her Head with a scornful Toss.
1836. J. Gilbert, Chr. Atonem., viii. (1852), 242. The question is dismissed from the minds of some with an indignant toss.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xlviii. She walked in … with a toss of the head which would have befitted an empress.
† 5. A bout, an encounter. Sc. Obs.
1730. T. Boston, Mem., x. (1899), 316. I had a loss with Mr. Murray, he affirming and I denying that I had given them ground by word or deed. Ibid. (1730), View of this & other World (1799), 399. You may get enough ado even to die through a vehement toss of sickness.
6. An act of tossing a coin: see TOSS v. 9, 14; a decision arrived at by this means: see toss-up in 10, and cf. PITOH AND TOSS.
1798. T. Jefferson, Writ., IV. 227. The question of war and peace depends now on a toss of cross and pile.
1838. De Morgan, Probabilities, 75. Let us find the probability that, out of 200 tosses with a halfpenny, there shall be exactly 100 heads and 100 tails.
1859. All Year Round, No. 13. 305. The town won the toss for innings.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., xxviii. I don’t care a toss where you are.
1887. L. Stephen, in Dict. Nat. Biog. XI. 467/2. They … decided by the toss of a halfpenny that Concanen should defend the ministry.
7. The throwing off of homing pigeons in a trial of their flight and homing powers.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 1 June, 9/2. As some of the ‘tosses’ numbered 6,000 birds at one time, the sight was a remarkable one.
1899. G. J. Larner, in 19th Cent., XLV. 819. The first of these two experimental tosses took place on the 17th of December last year.
† 8. (?) A payment. Obs.
1630. Massinger, Picture, II. ii. Yet, not to take From the magnificence of the King, I will Dispense his bounty too, but as a page To wait on mine: for other tosses, take A hundred-thousand crowns.
9. A measure for sprats: see quot.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 69/2. They [sprats] are sold at Billingsgate by the ‘toss’ or ‘chuck,’ which is about half a bushel, and weighs from 40 lbs. to 50 lbs.
10. Toss-up. The throwing up of a coin to arrive at a decision: see TOSS v. 14.
17[?]. Laws of Cricket, in Grace, Cricket (1891), 14. The party that wins the toss-up shall go in first at his option.
1802–12. Bentham, Ration. Judic. Evid. (1827), V. 64. What charity-boy … was ever at a loss to know that the toss-up of a halfpenny was worth a farthing.
1868. ‘S. Daryl,’ Droits & Bowls, 48. A toss-up decides which party is to play first.
b. fig. A chance where the probability either way is equal; an even chance. colloq.
1809. Malkin, Gil Blas, XI. vii. (Rtldg.), 407. It is a toss up who fails and who succeeds.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., xii. It was a toss-up with Tom Pinch whether he should laugh or cry.
1862. J. Skelton, Nugæ Crit., vi. 257. It is generally the merest ‘toss-up’ what verdict the … critic pronounces on any work.
1888. Times (weekly ed.), 14 Sept., 15/1. It was a toss up whether Lord Salisbury was going to offer them an Irish Government or a Coercion Act.
