- throw away (v.)
- late 14c., "to reject, cast from oneself," from throw (v.) + away. More literal meaning of "dispose of as useless, release from one's possession as unneeded" is first recorded 1520s. Throw-away (adj.) is first recorded 1924, originally of prices so low they amounted to giving away the merchandise; with reference to disposable goods, it is attested from 1969.