throw back
Appearance
See also: throwback
English
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]throw back (third-person singular simple present throws back, present participle throwing back, simple past threw back, past participle thrown back)
- (transitive) To hinder the development of something.
- (intransitive) To revert to an earlier stage of development.
- The Century
- A large proportion of the steerage passengers throw back to their Darwinian ancestry.
- The Century
- (transitive) To retort.
- 2011, Delores Haltom, The Stonecutter: How the Word Became Flesh, page 120:
- She jumped to her feet and began stalking away. “Going to cost me fifteen dollars to clean this outfit,” she threw back over her shoulder.
- (transitive) To drink quickly, especially alcoholic beverages.
- We threw back drinks until the next morning.
- 2021 July 8, James Patterson, Adam Hamdy, Private Rogue: (Private 16), Random House, →ISBN:
- “He and I used to throw back beers every now and then when I was with the Bureau.” Shaw grinned arrogantly.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see throw, back.
- I threw back my head and laughed uproariously.
- We caught several fish in the river but threw them back.
- 2017, Andrew Massie, In the Shadows of My Mind, page 197:
- We all raised our glasses, threw them back. I was getting better, but I still felt the alcohol harder than Stephen ever had.