English
toss
Toss comes from Middle English tossen ‘to buffet about, agitate, toss’.
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tossen‘to buffet about, agitate, toss’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1569toss
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500tossen‘to buffet about, agitate, toss’
- Englishearliest quotation a. 1569toss
Earliest quotation: a. 1569, Roger Ascham, Write: “spend four or fiue yeares, in tossing all the…”
The story
Perhaps from Old Norse (compare dialectal Norwegian tossa, dialectal Swedish tossa (‘to strew, spread’)), or perhaps from an alteration of Middle English tosen (‘to tease, pull apart, shred; to wound, injure’). The Welsh tos (‘a quick jerk’) and tosio (‘to jerk, toss’) are probably borrowed from the English.
Every English word from Middle English tossen
Today it means
noun A throw, a lob, of a ball etc., with an initial upward direction, particularly with a lack of care.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Middle English tossen / toss