by Liz Walter

My last post looked at the way the verb ‘throw’ can be extended into several figurative uses. Today, we go a step further and look at some classic idioms that contain this word.

I’ll start with the wonderful idiom throw the baby out with the bathwater. This means to attempt to get rid of something you don’t want (the bathwater), but in the process to lose something much more important or valuable (the baby that was in the bath!):

You may disagree with minor aspects of this law, but if you vote against it, you risk throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

There are a few ‘throw’ idioms connected with unpleasant behaviour. If you throw your weight around, you act in a rather aggressive manner, as if you are more powerful or important than other people. If you throw someone under the bus or throw someone to the dogs, you make them suffer or take the blame for something in order to protect yourself or gain an advantage:

One of our colleagues from London came to the meeting and started throwing his weight around.

She did what he told her to, but when the plan failed, he threw her under the bus.

When she saw her job was in danger, she threw her deputy to the dogs.

If you throw in the towel, you give up or stop trying to do something because you know you can’t succeed. This idiom comes from boxing, where a boxer’s trainer would throw a towel into the ring to stop a fight. Another sporting idiom – this time from baseball – is throw someone a curve ball/curveball. This means to say or do something that is unexpected and difficult to deal with. It is American English, but it is beginning to be used in British English too:

After five unsuccessful interviews for a journalism job, I was ready to throw in the towel.

Our business was going well when the pandemic threw us a curveball.

I’ll finish with the idiom throw the book at someone, which means to give them the most severe punishment possible if they do something wrong:

If he’s caught with an illegal weapon, the authorities will throw the book at him.

These are just a few of the idioms that contain the word ‘throw’. Let me know in the comments if you come across any other useful ones. Having looked at figurative meanings and idioms, my next and final post concerning the verb ‘throw’ will be on phrasal verbs.