/θɹəʊ/, /θɹoʊ/
OriginPerhaps a variant of froe.
- error-lua-execA severe pang or spasm of pain, especially one experienced when the uterus contracts during childbirth, or when a person is about to die.
“O man haue mind of that laſt bitter throw; / For as the tree does fall, ſo lyes it euer low.”
“[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.”
“[M]ine own entrails did sustain / Moan for my daughter's yet unended throes, […]”
- error-lua-exec, plural-normallyThe pain of labour or childbirth; the suffering of death.
“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 ”
- Any severe pang or spasm, especially an outburst of feeling; a paroxysm.
“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 fragil”
“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; […]”
“Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart diſtends / With gentle throws; […]”
- figuratively, plural-normallyA hard struggle, especially one associated with the beginning or finishing of a task.
“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 h”
- obsoleteSynonym of froe (“a cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood”).
- obsolete, transitiveTo cause (someone) to feel throes, as if in childbirth; to put in agony.
“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.”
- intransitive, obsoleteTo feel throes; to struggle in extreme pain; to be in agony; to agonize.
“[W]hile yet he gazed at the wonderful countenance, his memory began to throe and struggle.”
Formsthroes(plural) · throw(alternative) · throes(present, singular, third-person) · throeing(participle, present) · throed(participle, past) · throed(past)
Source: Wiktionary