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by Liz Walter

Most readers of this blog will be familiar with the verb throw when it means using your hand and arm to send something such as a ball through the air. Today’s post looks at some of the many ways that this basic sense of ‘throw’ is used in more idiomatic ways, often in fixed or semi-fixed phrases.

We often use ‘throw’ to talk about moving parts of our body in fast, often exaggerated gestures. For instance, you might throw your head back in laughter, throw up your hands (often in horror), or throw your arms around someone in a hug:

She threw her head back and roared with laughter.

When he saw the mess, he threw up his hands in horror.

He threw his arms around his uncle.

We also use ‘throw’ to talk about moving our whole body in a fast, uncontrolled way. For instance, you might throw yourself onto a bed or into an armchair. More idiomatically, if you throw yourself at someone, you make it obvious that you want a romantic relationship with them, often in a way that is not very dignified:

He kicked off his shoes and threw himself onto the sofa.

He was rich and handsome, and women threw themselves at him.

If you throw a punch, you hit or try to hit someone with your closed hand, and if you throw open a window or a door, you open it with a fast, forceful movement. If you throw a glance/look at someone or something, you look towards them quickly:

Witnesses confirmed that it was Scott who threw the first punch.

She walked into the room and threw open all the windows.

She stormed off, throwing an angry glance over her shoulder.

People who throw money/cash around spend a lot of it. We also talk about throwing money/cash at a problem, meaning spending a lot of money to solve it:

He tried to impress people by throwing cash around.

Rather than simply throwing money at our problems, we need to make meaningful changes.

These phrases are all closely related to the core meaning of ‘throw’. In my next post I will look at some of the even more idiomatic phrases that contain this surprisingly common verb.