tos

v. t. [ See Touse ] To tease, or comb, as wool. [ Obs.or Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Cf. OF. tonce shorn, clipped, and E. tonsure. ] Neat; trim. [ Scot. ] Jomieson. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ Pref. to- + shred. ] To cut into shreds or pieces. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Tossed (less properly Tost ); p. pr. & vb. n. Tossing. ] [ W. tosiaw, tosio, to jerk, toss, snatch, tosa quick jerk, a toss, a snatch. ] 1. To throw with the hand; especially, to throw with the palm of the hand upward, or to throw upward; as, to toss a ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To lift or throw up with a sudden or violent motion; as, to toss the head. [ 1913 Webster ]

He tossed his arm aloft, and proudly told me,
He would not stay. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To cause to rise and fall; as, a ship tossed on the waves in a storm. [ 1913 Webster ]

We being exceedingly tossed with a tempest. Act xxvii. 18. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To agitate; to make restless. [ 1913 Webster ]

Calm region once,
And full of peace, now tossed and turbulent. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Hence, to try; to harass. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whom devils fly, thus is he tossed of men. Herbert. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To keep in play; to tumble over; as, to spend four years in tossing the rules of grammar. [ Obs. ] Ascham. [ 1913 Webster ]

To toss off, (a) to drink hastily. (b) to accomplish easily or quickly. (c) to say in an offhand manner; as, to toss off a comment. (d) to masturbate; -- British slang. --
To toss the cars.See under Oar, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A throwing upward, or with a jerk; the act of tossing; as, the toss of a ball. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A throwing up of the head; a particular manner of raising the head with a jerk. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To roll and tumble; to be in violent commotion; to write; to fling. [ 1913 Webster ]

To toss and fling, and to be restless, only frets and enrages our pain. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be tossed, as a fleet on the ocean. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

To toss for, to throw dice or a coin to determine the possession of; to gamble for. --
To toss up, to throw a coin into the air, and wager on which side it will fall, or determine a question by its fall. Bramsion. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Tassel. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who tosses. J. Fletcher. [ 1913 Webster ]