Green’s Dictionary of Slang

throw v.

1. to vomit.

[UK]Wilson Tyneside Songs (1890) 374: He retched an’ he threw i’ the hight oo his anguish [OED].
[Aus]F.J. Hardy in Great Aus. Lover Stories 63: Euphemisms for vomit [...] include spue, burp, hurl, the big spit, the long spit, throw, and whip o’ will.

2. in transitive senses.

(a) (US Und.) to cheat, to rob.

[US]Matsell Vocabulum 89: To cheat; to rob; to steal.
[Aus]J. Holledge Great Aust. Gamble 58: Bookmakers in every state still agree that Ossie Porter was the hardest man to throw in the game since World War II.

(b) (US) to do, to perform, to put across; thus thrower n.

[US]H. Hapgood Autobiog. of a Thief 48: Some of them escaped because they knew how to throw the innocent ‘con’ so well.
[US]‘Hugh McHugh’ Beat It 53: He’s a horse trader by profession and a con thrower by nature.
[US]P.A. Rollins Cowboy 76: The outlaw he began to throw talk.
W.R. Burnett Giant Swing 45: ‘Well, if it ain’t Caruso himself. You throw a mean song, buddy’.
[US]W.R. Burnett Tomorrow’s Another Day 62: ‘ Older men probably started throwing passes at you as soon as you left home’.
[US]J. Horton ‘Time and cool people’ in Trans-action 4 8/1: The younger dude feels a sense of pride when he can be on the set and throw a rap to an older dude.
[US]T. Kochman ‘Kinetic Element in Black Idiom’ in Kochman Rappin’ and Stylin’ Out 161: Later the black youngster discovers that it adds to his rep to be a good talker, to have a heavy rap that one can throw to a girl for the purpose of becoming intimate with her.

(c) (US) to shoot a bullet.

[US]F. Harris ‘The Best Man in Garotte’ in Elder Conklin & Other Stories (1895) 166: He [...] slowly drew the revolver from under the cloak. His hesitation was too much for the crowd. ‘Throw it through him, Jedge! Now’s your chance. Wade in, Jedge!’.
[US]E. Booth Stealing Through Life 302: Had to throw a slug or let him out [...] and we was too near through to start blasting.
[US]W.R. Burnett High Sierra in Four Novels (1984) 374: The copper throws a slug into Petty’s pal.
[US]C. Himes ‘Daydream’ in Coll. Stories 362: I threw a shot a [sic] the crack in the door, and broke for cover.
[US]R.D. Abrahams Deep Down in the Jungle 78: I throwed a thirty-eight shell through that motherfucker's head.
[US]J. Mills Report to the Commissioner 200: [H]e threw shots at me, so that’s attempted murder of a police officer.
[US]H. Gould Fort Apache, The Bronx 114: So anyway this Rasta throws three through the door, and one of ’em hits the wall about an inch from Donnelly’s head.
R. Sullivan LAbyrinth 64: Suge [Knight] was becoming a sort of living urban myth, especially after gangbangers threw shots at him outside the Roxbury and Grand Slam nightclubs.

(d) (US Und.) to send to prison.

[US]‘Number 1500’ Life In Sing Sing 262: I can fall, but no bull could throw me.

(e) (US black) to cast a spell.

[US]Z.N. Hurston Hoodoo (1995) 179: She even throwed at me once, but she can’t do nothin’.

(f) (US Und.) to rob at gunpoint.

[US]Goldin et al. DAUL 222/1: Throw, v. To rob at pistol point.

(g) (US police) to pass over money (e.g. to ensure a request is carried out, to gain a favour).

E.F. Droge Patrolman 33: I learned that it was a good idea to be around a break-in when the owner showed—so you wouldn’t miss out if he wanted to ‘throw’ you something for helping him check out the premises.
[US]D.B. Flowers Bangs 150: Bangs or Barrett threw Holmes some additional cash for good measure.

(h) (US) to sell, e.g. throw joints, to sell marijuana cigarettes.

[US](con. 1985–90) P. Bourjois In Search of Respect 192: I never used to throw joints [...] But I was doing a lot of drugs.

3. (orig. US) to disconcert, to surprise, to worry.

[UK]E.B. Browning Letters to M. R. Mitford (1983) II 431: Poor Mr. Horne! He appeared to me far more thrown by this last adversity than he ever was by the death of his Katy .
M.H. Smith Twenty Years among the Bulls and Bears of Wall Street 121: Vanderbilt has never been ‘thrown’ since he commenced his stock speculations [DA].
[US]T. Runyon In For Life 36: One banker was really thrown when I put the pistol on him.
[US]C. Himes Big Gold Dream 132: It was the Jew who threw us [...] Taking that furniture apart.
[US]G.V. Higgins Digger’s Game (1981) 110: He’s playing with more dough inna week, he’s used to seeing inna month. It threw him.
[US]J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 104: That threw me a bit.
[UK]N. Barlay Hooky Gear 24 3: As she brush her tress off I glimpse an eye, a dark eye, an it throw me cos its a well-sad dark eye.

4. in senses of SE throw away.

(a) (also throw off) to lose deliberately, esp. in sports.

[US]N.Y. Clipper 25 June 1/5: After the race was over, the excitement on the track beggared description — some swearing that Nodine threw the race.
[US]Chicago Republican 28 July 4/3: The game of Thursday last with the ‘Forest City Club,’ of Rockford, was ‘thrown up’ for the purpose of enabling thieving gamblers to make bets against the ‘Excelsior Club’ of this city [DA].
[US]N.Y. Times 25 June 8/2–3: [He may have] thrown the race for the purpose of getting the odds heavy against him.
[US]H.W. Woodruff Trotting Horse of America 207: In all her hippodroming (and she was hippodromed with a good deal) her owner and driver never threw away a heat.
[US]G. Devol Forty Years a Gambler 83: You throwed that race, you s— of the b— , and I am going to lick you for it.
Florence Trib. (AZ) 18 Dec. 1/3: I want to know what made you think I was going to throw that race!
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 10 Feb. 24/2: Gaffney says Tweedie wanted to square him to ‘throw it’ [...] and though he (Gaffney) pretended to agree, he nevertheless made up his mind to win – a task which, to his way of thinking, was akin to ‘falling off a log,’ for Tweedie couldn’t ‘brush a bee from a bucket.’.
[US]St Paul Globe 19 Dec. 5/2: He reiterated his vogorous denials of the charges President Hart is alleged to have made against him of ‘throwing’ games.
[US]Van Loan ‘Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm’ in Ten-Thousand-Dollar Arm 21: It was hinted that the manager had thrown the game.
[US]R. Lardner ‘Hurry Kane’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 106: ‘I will give you twenty thousand dollars if you get beat.’ ‘I can’t throw my pals,’ said Kane.
[US]H. McCoy They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? in Four Novels (1983) 65: I wish I’d thrown the race.
[US]B. Schulberg Harder They Fall (1971) 245: Pretty soon the kid has to throw one or win one he doesn’t deserve.
[US]R. Graziano Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) 249: Rocky, have you ever taken any money to throw a fight?
L. Schecter Jocks 3: [T]his book is about [. . . .] the dump, the fix, the thrown game, the shaved points, the cross and double cross.
[US](con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 176: I think Chubby wants you to throw the game.
[US]D. Jenkins Dead Solid Perfect 45: I know good and well that you throwed off the City Championship once because you were 6-up [...] with only ten holes to play, and you lost.
[US]S. Stallone Paradise Alley (1978) 213: Ya threw the fight?! Ya blew everythin’!
[UK]J. Morton Lowspeak.
[UK]Observer 27 June 1: Tim May of Australia claimed that Salim had offered a bribe to throw a match.
[UK]Guardian Sport 29 Apr. 12: Wrestlers [...] frequently threw matches for money.
[SA]Mail & Guardian 13 Apr. 🌐 Were you ever asked to throw a fight?
[US]T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] The Ragin’ Cajun would throw the fight.

(b) (US) to get rid of, to overcome; of a police officer, to drop a charge or testify falsely to assure an acquittal.

[US]‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 22: ‘You’re on a cold plate,’ whispered Wise Samuel, but he couldn’t throw me.
[US]Curran Report 8: That Policemen have received sums of money for testifying in such manner as to produce acquittals and discharges has been stated to us by many witnesses. So common is this practice that it is colloquially known as ‘throwing’ a case, or as a ‘turn out’.
[US]B. Cormack Racket Act II: I get slipped somethin’ good if I throw Joe Scarsi’s case.
[US] ‘Honky-Tonk Bud’ in D. Wepman et al. Life (1976) 57: There were those who knew him, the agent who threw him, / And those who just came to stare.

5. (US) to host a party or social event.

[US]S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 267: They would, as they expressed it, ‘throw a party.’.
[US]D. Parker ‘The Last Tea’ in Penguin Dorothy Parker (1982) 183: I went up to May’s — she was throwing a party.
[Aus]K. Tennant Battlers 149: Stories of the gay parties ‘thrown’ by the station-owners who had rented the more presentable houses in the town at an exorbitant figure, were daily gossip in the kitchen.
[UK]K. Amis letter 11 Oct. in Leader (2000) 608: We ought to get together some time. Why don’t you throw me a lunch on the Mag?
[UK]Observer Business 22 Aug. 20: The Ken Kesey party thrown last week by C4.

6. to go out on a spree.

[US]E. Anderson Thieves Like Us (1999) 76: Let’s [...] go to Dallas and get us a Packard and throw us a good one.

7. to have sexual intercourse.

in E. Wald Dozens 8: I know your mama. / She can weeble, she can wobble, she can throw it so good, / She got the best damn pussy in the neighborhood.
[US]E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 257: throw. Engage in sexual intercourse.
[US]Eble Campus Sl. Spring 8: throw – have sex promiscuously: Does she throw?

8. (US black/gang) to display, e.g a gang sign.

R. Sullivan LAbyrinth 118: Biggie’s voice was drowned out by boos from a contingent of Bloods who sat in the balcony throwing West Coast signs at him.
[US]W.D. Myers Lockdown 150: [G]uys in the hood running down the streets throwing signs and spitting smack .

In compounds

throw-oil (n.)

vaginal secretions.

[UK]Randiana 80: Although her cunt has not got that tenacity of grip which distinguished Lady Fanny [...] there was that general spunkiness about her final throw-oil which places her in the front rank for one of her station of life .

In phrases

throw the bull (v.) (also throw bull around, throw it (around), toss the bull)

(US) to brag, to boast, to claim what one cannot achieve.

[US]B. Fisher A. Mutt in Blackbeard Compilation (1977) 37: When it comes to throwing the bull to the jury I’ll make Beany look like a bowl of tripe.
[US]G. Bronson-Howard Enemy to Society 211: I don’t throw any ‘bull’ around like some guys I know.
[Aus]Sport (Adelaide) 2 Aug. 9/2: They Say [...] That Big Jim, the American bulltosser, ought to give up work and go in for whippet racing.
[UK]B.E.F. Times 15 Aug. (2006) 208/1: When the high-brow pens get busy slinging ink [...] they’ll throw the bull.
[US]O.O. McIntyre New York Day by Day 26 June [synd. col.] ‘Throwing the bull’ is likely to become more than a Broadway conversational diversion.
[US]J.L. Kuethe ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 337: throw the bull — to talk nonsense.
[US]A. Kapelner Lonely Boy Blues (1965) 42: You’re throwing the bull right in your old man’s face.
[US](con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 59: ‘Stop throwing it.’ [...] ‘No, it’s the truth.’.
[US]‘Hal Ellson’ Tomboy (1952) 60: Anyhow, you were throwing it, and that’s something I don’t like.
[US]W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 44: It was just the sort of stuff you heard. He didn’t know where he’d got it from. Just some cats digging, throwing it around.
[UK]R.A. Norton Through Beatnik Eyeballs 78: I not throw bull aound all the time about witches I had doubles with and all.
[US]‘Hy Lit’ Hy Lit’s Unbelievable Dict. of Hip Words 10: (the) come-on – To put someone on; conning; throwing the bull.
[US]Maledicta 1 (Summer) 14: If he is fundamentally dishonest and a liar to boot, [...] He is throwing the bull (or is a Spanish athlete).
[US]D. Gaines Teenage Wasteland 63: That’s the art of street hang. Telling stories, throwing the bull, smackin’ your gums.