throwing

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of throw.

   Throwing the discus, the athlete spun twice before releasing it.

   He injured his shoulder while throwing the heavy bag onto the truck.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every sense of the verb, not only hurling. A potter is throwing a bowl, a cricket bowler who straightens the arm is throwing illegally, and a program can be throwing an exception. After a form of be it builds progressive tenses (she is throwing). As a gerund it still takes a direct object (throwing the bag), whereas the noun for the act needs of.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of propelling an object through the air, typically with a motion of the arm.

   Her throwing improved dramatically after a full season of coaching.

   The catcher's quick throwing caught the runner trying to steal second.

   Similarpitching, tossing, hurling

   Oppositecatching

   Note

   Usually a mass noun for the activity or skill, but it also counts, and the plural names separate occasions. Booth Tarkington's Beasley's Christmas Party (1909) imagines tearful, happy weddings and "great throwings of rice" after the bride. In that countable use, throwings normally comes with of and the thing thrown, often with an adjective of scale in front.

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The process of forming ceramic vessels by shaping clay on a rotating potter's wheel.

   Throwing requires centering the clay perfectly before you open the form.

   He spent years mastering throwing before he began teaching others.

   Note

   A potter's word that has nothing to do with hurling. You throw a pot, and a thrown bowl is one made on the wheel. The work runs in stages: centering the clay, opening it, then raising the walls under steady hand pressure. In a studio, "her throwing is good" praises her wheel work, not her aim.

Showing meanings only. Show all 3