Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to masturbate; often as toss oneself off and as vtr. to masturbate another person (see cit. 1973).

1660		Wandring Whore I 9: Conduct them into my Bed-chamber, furnish them with good Wine and Tobacco, for I know Ju. will smoke a pipe, and then toss his Pike.
1781		Belle’s Stratagem 61: If i don’t break off the match, may I never toss off another — Glass.
1830		Whore’s Catechism [trans.] 81: Some copulate immediately afterward [i.e. after flagellation], others only wish to be tossed off by a female hand.
1879		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 276: He managed a stand, And tossed himself off in the stalls.
1879		Harlequin Prince Cherrytop 9: To the privy I would repair, / And toss it off in the basin there .
1883		‘Three Chums’ in Boudoir III 89: My little sister doesn't know what it is yet; she is only up to the tossing off business.
1890		C. Pearl in Blatchford Memoirs (1983) 99: I just can’t be bothered tonight, Cora; just toss me off, will you?
1899		Crissie 18: ‘It won’t lighten your purse to toss him off [...] for the increasing screw he promises’.
1943		P. Larkin letter 13 Aug. in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 62: I piss about spending money, doing housework, tossing myself off (to put it crudely), and listening to those Awful Blaring Jazz Things.
1956		‘Little Jim’ in ‘Count P. Vicarion’ Bawdy Ballads XXIX: He buggered all the prefects and all the masters too, / But finally he was expelled or so the records say, / For tossing off the Prince of Wales on Coronation Day.
1961		P. Larkin letter 1 June in Thwaite Sel. Letters (1992) 330: Glad to hear K. is all right. [...] give him my sympathy. It must be hell not being able to toss off.
1970		San Diego Sailor 11: I’d go out to the head [...] and we’d toss off together.
1973		(con. 1940s–60s) Hogbotel & ffuckes ‘Craven A’ in Snatches and Lays 43: He was rusticated, so the records say, / For tossing off the Prince of Wales on Founder’s Day.
1977		A. Bleasdale No More Sitting on the Old School Bench (1979) 25: How can you learn sociology from someone who wore a cheesecloth top an’ nothin’ t’support her tits? Ey? What educational standards can you hope t’achieve when half the class is tossin’ off on the back row?
1988		(ref. to 1940s) S. Humphries Secret World of Sex 208: It was very common for somebody to toss someone off in a cottage.
1994		P. Muldoon ‘I look out the kitchen window. A cigarette burns...’ in Prince of the Quotidian n.p.: Who gives a shit about the dreck / of your life? Who gives a toss / about your tossing off?
2005		A. Bennett Untold Stories (2006) 132: I realise that [...] what they were doing was tossing off.
2020		G. Krauze What They Was 171: Then [she] gave me neckback, sucking and tossing me off onto her big olive oil breasts.

2. to get rid of, to discard.

1845		S. Judd Margaret (1851) II 291: Have you read ‘Cynthia?’ [...] It is a charming novel [...] I mean it is a delightful thing to toss off a dull hour with.
1887		‘A Plain Woman’ Poor Nellie I 219: A pack of tossed-off girls for ’ousemaids.
1914		Sat. Eve. Post 21 March 15: If that long, lean lobster of a Lord William wants to toss off his change, let him.
1938		D. Runyon ‘All Horse Players Die Broke’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 712: If Uncle Fritz wishes to toss his dough off on jewellery, it is none of my put-in.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 14: The colored man, like as not, can toss [the blues] off with a laugh.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 42: Them mother-in-laws is hard to toss [...] They can see out the full fifteen rounds very easy.
1961		in E. Cray Erotic Muse (1992) 295: We have not lost our virginity. / If we have lost it, somebody tossed it.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 192: I finished the cigar and tossed the butt.
1977		K. Gilbert Living Black 20: They just toss it off as a joke.
1999		J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 227: The clothes I was wearing weren’t good for much more than burning, so I tossed ’em.
2000		C. Cook Robbers (2001) 33: He tossed the cigarette, half smoked.

3. (also toss up) to give up, to abandon (a task), to lose.

1910		Bulletin (Sydney) 7 July 14/1: I’ve tossed up goin’ b’ what they ex’ibits in penny papers.
1929		J. Lait Broadway Melody 4: He’s a hot song-plugger, Eddie is — tossing off that push-over tune on them hoofin’ hams.
1938		D. Runyon ‘Baseball Hattie’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 655: He tries to bribe Haystack to toss off a ball game.
1944		D. Runyon Runyon à la Carte 55: I express surprise that we toss off four G’s in such a short period.