throe

English

WOTD – 31 January 2022

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /θɹəʊ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /θɹoʊ/
• Homophone: throw
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1

The noun is probably derived partly:

• from Middle English throu, throwe (“(chiefly in the plural) uterine contraction during the birth of a child; pain experienced while giving birth; suffering; a pain; emotional distress, anxiety”) [and other forms], perhaps from:
  • Old English þrawu (rare), a variant of þrēa (“affliction, torment; disaster; oppression; a rebuke; severity; threat”), from Proto-West Germanic *þrau, from Proto-Germanic *þrawō (“longing; suffering”), from Proto-Indo-European *trewh₁-; and
  • Old English þrōwian (“to endure, suffer”), from Proto-Germanic *þrōwijaną, probably from *þrawō (see above); and
  • Old Norse þrá (“longing, yearning”), from Proto-Germanic *þrawō (see above); and
• from Middle English throuen (“to endure distress, suffer; to be ill, to have a fever; to suffer (death, hardship, illness, punishment, etc.); to endure (sadness, hard work, etc.)”) [and other forms], from Old English þrōwian (see above).

The current spelling of the word is a 16th-century variant of Middle English throu, throwe, perhaps to avoid confusion with throw (“act of turning or twisting; fit of bad temper or peevishness; look of anger, bad temper, irritation, etc., a grimace”).

The verb is derived:

• from the noun; and
• perhaps from Middle English throuen (verb) (see above).

Noun

throe (plural throes)

1. A severe pang or spasm of pain, especially one experienced when the uterus contracts during childbirth, or when a person is about to die.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 41, page 146:

     O man haue mind of that laſt bitter throw; / For as the tree does fall, ſo lyes it euer low.

   • 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Cotton Grasse”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book I, page 27:

     [Valerius] Cordus ſaith, that Iuncus bombicinus ſodden in wine, and ſo taken, helpeth the throwes and gripings of the bellie, that women haue in their childing.

   • 1614–1615, Homer, “The Nineteenth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume II, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 160, lines 564–565:

     [M]ine own entrails did sustain / Moan for my daughter's yet unended throes, […]

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 777–780:

     Penſive here I ſat / Alone, but long I ſat not, till my womb / Pregnant by thee, and now exceſſive grown / Prodigious motion felt and rueful throes.

   • 1693, Thomas Yalden, “The Curse of Babylon. Paraphras’d from the Thirteenth Chapter of Isaia. A Pindaric Ode.”, in Examen Poeticum: Being the Third Part of Miscellany Poems. […], London: […] R. E. for Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, stanza 5, pages 314–315:

     I'll viſit their Diſtreſs with Plagues and Miſeries, / The throws that VVomens Labours wait, / Convulſive Pangs, and bloody Sweat, / Their Beauty ſhall conſume, and vital Spirits ſeize.

   • 1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book XVII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume V, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 3, lines 5–8:

     Thus round her new fal'n Young, the Heifer moves, / Fruit of her Throes, and Firſt-born of her Loves, / And anxious, (helpleſs as he lies, and bare) / Turns, and returns her, with a Mother's Care.

   • 1742, [Edward Young], “Night the First. On Life, Death, and Immortality. […]”, in The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, London: […] [Samuel Richardson] for A[ndrew] Millar […], and R[obert] Dodsley […], published 1750, →OCLC, page 14:

     In this Shape, or in that, has Fate entail'd / The Mother's Throws on all of Woman born, / Not more the Children, than ſure Heirs of Pain.

   • 1806 October, J. H. K., “Hints on the Manner in which Christian Parents should Improve the Death of Children”, in The Evangelical Magazine, volume XIV, London: […] [G. Auld] for Williams and Smith, […], →OCLC, page 441:

     [W]e never know the full force of parental affection till our children are about to be taken from us. It is then that we discover how strongly they have entwined themselves round our hearts; when we behold the fixed eye, the pale lips, the convulsive throws of death distorting the countenance; or when with aching and throbbing hearts we deposit those who are a part of ourselves in the cold and silent grave.

   • 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], chapter XXI, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume III, Edinburgh:  […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 322:

     Nature has her tortures as well as art, and how happy should we think the man who escapes from the throes of a mortal and painful disorder, in the space of a short half hour?

   1. (usually in the plural) The pain of labour or childbirth; the suffering of death.
      • 1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC, stanzas XXXV–XXXVI, pages 18–19:

        As if their own indignant earth, / Which gave the sons of England birth, / Had felt their blood upon her brow, / And shuddering with a mother's throe, / Had turned every drop of blood, / By which her face had been bedewed / To an accent unwithstood, / As if her heart had cried aloud: […]

2. Any severe pang or spasm, especially an outburst of feeling; a paroxysm.
   • c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 97, column 1:

     Commend me to them, / And tell them, that to eaſe them of their greefes, / Their feares of Hoſtile ſtrokes, their Aches loſſes, / Their pangs of Loue, with other incident throwes / That Natures fragile Veſſell doth ſuſtaine / In lifes vncertaine voyage, I will ſome kindnes do them, […]

   • 1719, [Daniel Defoe], The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe; […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC, page 203:

     I had then ſuch Convulſions in my Stomach, for want of ſome Suſtenance, that I cannot deſcribe; with ſuch frequent Throws and Pangs of Appetite, that nothing but the Tortures of Death can imitate; […]

   • a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Autumn”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 161, lines 1322–1323:

     Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart diſtends / With gentle throws; […]

   • 1815, Walter Scott, “Canto Second”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 43:

     But ask thou not if Happiness be there, / If the loud laugh disguise convulsive throe, / Or if the brow the heart's true livery wear; […]

3. (figuratively, usually in the plural) A hard struggle, especially one associated with the beginning or finishing of a task.
   • 2019 August 14, A. A. Dowd, “Good Boys Puts a Tween Spin on the R-rated Teen Comedy, to Mostly Funny Effect”, in The A.V. Club‎^[1], archived from the original on 4 March 2021:

     Of the group, Max (Room’s Jacob Tremblay) is the most nominally mature, at least biologically speaking; unlike his childhood companions, he’s entered the early throes of puberty, and spends a lot of his waking hours pining, rather chastely, for a classmate (Millie Davis).

Alternative forms

• throw (obsolete)

Derived terms

• death throe
• in the throes of
• throes of passion

Translations

severe pang or spasm of pain, especially one experienced when the uterus contracts during childbirth, or when a person is about to die

• Aramaic:

  Classical Syriac: ܚܒܠܐ (ḥeḇlā)

• Bulgarian: спазъм (bg) m (spazǎm)
• Dutch: stuiptrekking (nl)
• Finnish: kouristus (fi)
• French: agonie (fr) f
• German: Agonie (de) f, Krampf (de) m, Wehen (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: ὠδῑ́ς f (ōdī́s)

• Russian: му́ки (ru) f pl (múki), предсме́ртная аго́ния f (predsmértnaja agónija), спазм (ru) m (spazm)
• Scots: thraw
• Spanish: agonía (es) f

pain of labour or childbirth

• Armenian: երկունք (hy) (erkunkʻ)

  Old Armenian: երկն (erkn)

• Bulgarian: родилни болки f pl (rodilni bolki)

suffering of death

• Bulgarian: агония (bg) f (agonija)

any severe pang or spasm; especially an outburst of feeling — see paroxysm

hard struggle, especially one associated with the beginning or finishing of a task

See also

• Thesaurus:agony
• Thesaurus:pain

Verb

throe (third-person singular simple present throes, present participle throeing, simple past and past participle throed) (obsolete)

1. (transitive) To cause (someone) to feel throes, as if in childbirth; to put in agony.

   Synonyms: afflict, torture; see also Thesaurus:hurt

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i], page 8, column 1:

     Pre-thee ſay on, / The ſetting of thine eye, and cheeke proclaime / A matter from thee; and a birth, indeed, / Which throwes thee much to yeeld.

2. (intransitive) To feel throes; to struggle in extreme pain; to be in agony; to agonize.

   Synonyms: ache, thole; see also Thesaurus:suffer

   • 1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter V, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book seventh, page 473:

     [W]hile yet he gazed at the wonderful countenance, his memory began to throe and struggle.

Alternative forms

• throw (obsolete)

Translations

to cause (someone) to feel throes, as if in childbirth; to put in agony

• Russian: вызыва́ть аго́нию impf (vyzyvátʹ agóniju), терза́ть (ru) impf (terzátʹ)

to feel throes; to struggle in extreme pain

• Bulgarian: агонизирам (bg) (agoniziram)

Etymology 2

Perhaps a variant of froe.

Noun

throe (plural throes)

1. Synonym of froe (“a cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood”)

   Synonym: frow

Translations

synonym of froe — see froe

Further reading

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Throe”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IX, Part 2 (Su–Th), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 368, column 1.
• “throe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• threo-, Other, Toher, heort-, thero-, other, hetro, Rothe, rothe