throw signs

present singular third person throws signs · participle present throwing signs · past threw signs · participle past thrown signs

1. To make a gesture of group affiliation (especially with a gang) from a distance.

   "[…] Cause I be going around wearing red and throwing signs up."

   1996, Scott H. Decker, Barrik Van Winkle, Life in the Gang: Family, Friends, and Violence, page 122

   3 more examples

   Members of the Folk Nation throw their signs from the right and members of the People Nation will throw signs from the left.

   2000, Thomas Capozzoli, R. Steve McVey, Kids Killing Kids: Managing Violence and Gangs in Schools, page 77

   [[…]] of a thirty-year-old pro, a light-skinned brother named Malik “Chilly” Tubbs, who carried gang tattoos and would sometimes throw signs to passing cars.

   2005, F. X. Toole, Million Dollar Baby: Stories from the Corner, page 170

   Wearing certain types of jewelry and throwing signs can lead to tragic misidentification as a gang member.

   2006, G. Larry Mays, Juvenile Justice, page 308

   Synonyms: flag