throe

plural throes · alternative throw

1. 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.

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

   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

   4 more examples

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

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 41, page 146

   [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.

   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

   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.

   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

   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.

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

   1. error lua execplural 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 face had been bedewed / To an accent unwithstood, / As if her heart had cried aloud: […]

      1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Masque of Anarchy. A Poem. […], London: Edward Moxon […], published 1832, →OCLC, stanzas XXXV–XXXVI, pages 18–19

2. Any severe pang or spasm, especially an outburst of feeling; a paroxysm.

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

   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

   3 more examples

   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, […]

   c. 1605–1608 (date written), 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

   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; […]

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

   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; […]

   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

3. figurativelyplural 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 his waking hours pining, rather chastely, for a classmate (Millie Davis).

   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, archived from the original on 04 Mar 2021

present singular third person throes · participle present throeing · participle past throed · past throed · alternative throw

1. obsoletetransitiveTo 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.

   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

   Synonyms: afflict, torture, ache, afflict, aggrieve, agonize, anguish, dere

2. intransitiveobsoleteTo 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.

   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

   Synonyms: ache, thole, ache, agonize, anguish, hurt, pain, passion

plural throes

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

   Synonyms: frow, froe