see|throw-down
English
Etymology
"Fighting and incitement" sense evolved from the older idiom throw down the gauntlet. Sense of "accomplish something respectable" likely evolved further in street culture from a sense of "to make a stand" inherent in the fighting sense.
Verb
en-verb|inf=to throw down|throws down|throwing down|threw down|thrown down
- transitive|literal sense to cause something one is holding to drop, often forcefully.
#:The soldiers threw down their weapons and surrendered.
- US|colloquial|idiomatic|transitive to produce or perform (something) admirably or forcefully.
#*2001, Dave Thompson, Funk, back cover
#*:...this guide tracks the artists and recordings that throw down the funk!
#*2004, Kylie Adams, Ex-Girlfriends, p48
#*:�Punch up the rhymes. Throw down some beats. Show off that body. You'll be unstoppable.�
- US|colloquial|idiomatic|intransitive to fight, incite to fight, or approach with the intent to fight; to make a stand.
#*2002, Lory Janelle Dance, Tough Fronts: The Impact of Street Culture on Schooling, p60
#*:Let's you and me 'throw down' right here, right now!
#*2004, William Bowers, "I Think I'm Going to Hell", in Da Capo Best Music Writing 2004, p41
#*:When someone near me at a show called the band My Boring Racket, I was ready to throw down, but for the good sense of an accompanying female...
#*2004, Bell Hooks, We Real Cool: Black Men and Masculinity, p59
#*: Today's young and hip black male who fancies himself a radical, who is ready to throw down for the cause, is not talking about neo-colonialism, about global struggle.
#*2006, Erick S. Gray, Nasty Girls: An Urban Novel, p32
#*:She said no words and was the first to throw down. She stepped up to Dee, and pow!
#*2006, Sherman D. Manning, Blue-Eyed Blonde, p345
#*:The time has come. I'm ready to take action. I wanna kick ass and take names later. I wanna throw down, baby boy and baby girl.
- US|colloquial|idiomatic|intransitive (by extension) to accomplish or produce something in a grand, respectable, or successful manner; to "represent".
#*1997, Richard C. Green, Soul: Black Power, Politics, and Pleasure, p93
#*: Yeah, they could literally throw down. When their sound came out, it was earth-shaking.
#*1998, Sheila Copeland, Chocolate Star, p260
#*:�You're performing for the who's who of radio and records at the Soul Train Awards tonight and you've got to throw down�.
#*2005, J. Anthony White, The Class Conscious Crew: S.W.A., p?
#*:...she wouldn't mind marrying a man with some serious bank and able to sho-nuf throw-down in the bedroom!
- US|colloquial|idiomatic|intransitive to make an individual contribution to a group effort (eg. money pool, collaborative record album)
#:''"We're goin' in on a pizza; you in?" "Yea, I'll throw down."
See also
throw down the gauntlet
Category:English phrasal verbs
io:throw down
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