Word.ws English Dictionary

froe

UK/fɹəʊ/US/fɹoʊ/

froe noun: a cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood.

Noun (1)

froe (plural froes)

  1. A cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood.
    • Patch shingles on the barn roof: do we have a maul and froe?1997, Charles Frazier, chapter 4, in Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 88
    Synonyms:
    throe

Noun (2)

froe (plural froes)

  1. (obsolete) A dirty woman; a slattern; a frow.
    • Like to thoſe raging frantic froes / For Bacchus' feaſts prepared;1630, Michael Drayton, Nymphal IV, [from The Muses Elizium], 1793, The Works of the British Poets, Volume 3: Drayton, Carew & Suckling, page 618

Synonyms of froe

Forms of froe

pluralfroes
alternative formfrow

Origin of froe

Abbreviation of obsolete frower, from froward (“turned away”), referring to the orientation of the blade, at right angles to the handle. From late 16th century.

See frow.

Words formed from froe

  • froe club

Words that rhyme with froe

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about froe

What does froe mean?
Froe means a cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood.
What part of speech is froe?
Froe is a noun.
How do you pronounce froe?
Froe is pronounced /fɹəʊ/ (UK).
What is the plural of froe?
The plural of froe is froes.

Words near froe in the dictionary

  1. Frodingham
  2. Frodo
  3. Frodo Baggins
  4. Frodoesque
  5. Frodsham
  6. froe
  7. Froebel
  8. Froebelian
  9. Froebelianism
  10. Froebelians
  11. Froebelism

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: froe (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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