Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to overcome, to prove too much for [wrestling imagery].

1890

H. Fludyer Letters 98: These blessed exams are getting awfully close now; but I think I shall floor mine, and Dick’s sure to throw his examiners down.

2. (US) to discard, to abandon.

1895		J.S. Wood Yale Yarns 253: That Gower girl, — she’s thrown him down.
1900		Flynt & Walton Powers That Prey 170: If they see ’t ye mean business they ’ll crawl, but if ye monkey with ’em, they ’ll t’row ye down.
1909		W.M. Raine Brand Blotters (1912) 158: You don’t figure he’s aiming to throw us down – do you, Buck?
1911		B. Fisher Mutt & Jeff 10 Oct. [synd. cartoon] [of a marriage proposal] No wonder she threw you down.
1916		J. Lait ‘Felice o’ the Follies’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 77: Unless you wire me twenty here, care city jail, will have to do ten days. Don’t throw me down this time. It will be the last.
1926		D. Hammett ‘Assistant Murderer’ in Nightmare Town (2001) 142: My parties are out! I don’t mind throwing them down, but I ain’t rat enough to put the finger on them for you.
1936		Victoria Spivey ‘TB’s Got Me’ 🎵 TB’s got me, all my friends have thrown me down / TB’s got me, and all my friends have thrown me down.
1939		Louis Jordan ‘’Fore Day Blues’ 🎵 Hmmm, I can’t get started / Since you threw me down, / I thought you were the square, babe, / And you played me for a clown.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1951		H. Williams ‘I’d Still Want You’ 🎵 I could tell my friends I threw you down / And slander your name all over townl.
2000		Guardian Guide 1–6 Jan. 18: Gettin’ back on the block, thrown’ down that ill shit and bustin’ some seriously wrong moves in this here column.

3. (US) to get someone into trouble, to betray.

1893		St Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) 3 Dec. 17/7: ‘To throw down’ means to do a mean trick.
1900		Star and Sentinel (Gettysburg, PA) 4/5: ‘To throw down’ – To get a chum into trouble.
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 155: ‘Listen,’ said Mr. Quinn with deep feeling, ‘any time I throw down a pal ...’.
1924		G. Henderson Keys to Crookdom 421: Throw down. To betray.

4. in senses of SE throw down the gauntlet.

5. (US campus) to eat or drink voraciously.

1930		J. Lait Gangster Girl 42: The servant sing-songed in with the Scotch. Annie threw it down.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 68: Banty threw two slugs down his throat.
1962		K. Amis letter 21 Nov. in Leader (2000) 609: We’ll be throwing down shish-kebab in Shepherd’s Bush and whitebait in Whitechapel before very long.
1969		A. Buzo Rooted I iii: There were all these incredibly tactile people throwing down Red Ned.
1970		J. Conaway Big Easy 161: Comiski threw down the whiskey.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 10: Balmain was one of his old stamping grounds and his old chinas might be still around throwing down a pig’s ear or three.
1985		T.R. Houser Central Sl. 56: vittles, throw down some To get hold of some grub. To have dinner.
1999		E. Bunker Mr Blue 258: That called for two more [drinks]; again I threw one down and sipped the other.
2013		Times (Munstewr, IN) 15 Mar. D8/1: Ready to throw down a pint of stout.

6. (US black/campus) to enjoy oneself vigorously, to dance.

1981		Eble Campus Sl. Fall 7: throw down – to have a good time.
1983		K-9 Corp. ‘Dog Talk’ 🎵 It was something ’bout the dog that made me throw down.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 14: Seven hours of festival-style throwin’ down.
2002		‘Touré’ Portable Promised Land (ms.) 157: We Words (My Favorite Things) [...] Throw down. Clock block. Drop top. Wild style.
2014		C. Eble (ed.) UNC-CH Campus Sl. Spring 2014 15: THROW DOWN — have a party: ‘We’re throwing down at our house tonight’.

7. (US black) to perform music (without agressive subtext of sense 4c).

1979		Sugarhill Gang ‘Rapper’s Delight’ 🎵 He’s guaranteed to throw down.
1985		LA Dream Team ‘The Dream Team Is In The House’ 🎵 My name is Pardee, and I’m gonna throw down.
1993		Young MC ‘Back in the Day’ 🎵 When I got a little older, grab the mic and throw down.
2006		Ghostface Killah ‘9 Milli Bros.’ 🎵 Niggas be rhymin’ for nothing, then my team pull up, we all throw down, y’all broke niggas stay frontin’.

8. attrib. use of sense 6.

1983

G. Tate ‘King Sunny Adé’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 63: A real black American throwdown party crowd.

9. (US black/campus) to perform well; to work hard on a major project.

1982		G. Tate ‘Bad Brains’ in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) 23: The band’s Scot-screeching frontman H.R. throws down like James Brown gone beserk.
1990		Eble Campus Sl. Nov. 9: throw down – do something with intensity. ‘I threw down on some math last night.’.

10. (US campus) to have sexual intercourse.

1984		D. Jenkins Life Its Ownself 209: If Kathy throws me down in the back seat of a rent car some night, fine.
1987		Eble Campus Sl. Spring 8: throw down – have sex.
1996		Eble Sl. and Sociability 71: One hits on members of the opposite sex, potential slampieces, and winds up throwing down, knocking boots, or banging them.

11. to display a rival gang’s sign upside down, signifying asserted domination of the rival.

2004

J.A. Juarez Brotherhood of Corruption 34: [T]hey were caught on the local news flashing the Disciples’ gang sign and throwing down the crown, the sign of the Latin Kings, signifying the Disciples superiority over the Latin KIngs.