Word.ws English Dictionary

thow

thow is the obsolete spelling of thou.

thow is the alternative form of thaw.

Meaning of thou

Verb

thou (third-person singular simple present thous, present participle thouing, simple past and past participle thoued)

  1. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun thou, especially as an expression of contempt or familiarity.
    • Don’t thou them as thous thee! – a Yorkshire English admonition to overly familiar children
    Synonyms:
    thee
    Antonyms:
    you
  2. (intransitive) To use the word thou.
    • The hardcore role-players will wake up one day feeling, like a dead weight on their chest, the strain of endless texting in Renaissance Faire English—yet dutifully go on theeing and thouing all the same.2006, Julian Dibbell, chapter 5, in Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot, New York, N.Y.: Basic Books, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    thee
    Antonyms:
    you

See all 4 meanings of thou

Meaning of thaw

Verb

thaw (third-person singular simple present thaws, present participle thawing, simple past thawed, past participle thawed or (rare, chiefly poetic or nonstandard) thawn)

  1. (transitive) To gradually cause (something frozen, such as earth, ice, or snow) to melt or soften by raising the temperature.
    • Sette the potte to the fyre to thawe the water: […]1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan...
  2. (transitive) To gradually cause (someone or something that is very cold) to warm up.
    • [M]y very lippes might freeze to my teeth, my tongue to the roofe of my mouth, my heart in my belly, ere I ſhould come by a fire to thavv me, […]c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
  3. (figuratively, transitive) To cause (something inactive) to become active; also, to cause (something unfeeling) to have feelings.
    • [N]ovv my loue is thavv'd, / VVhich like a vvaxen Image 'gainſt a fire / Beares no impreſſion of the thing it vvas.c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
  4. (figuratively, transitive) To cause (someone or their feelings that are reserved or unfriendly) to become friendly or gentle.
  5. (archaic, figuratively, rare, transitive) To cause (something rigid) to become limp.
    • "Speak aloud, my lord," said Elizabeth, "and at farther distance, so please you—your breath thaws our ruff. What have you to ask of us?"1821 January 8, [Walter Scott], chapter XV, in Kenilworth; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; and John Ballantyne, […]; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC...
  6. (intransitive) Of something frozen, such as earth, ice, or snow: to gradually melt or soften as a result of the temperature being raised.
    • the ice thaws
    Synonyms:
    de-ice

See all 18 meanings of thaw

Forms of thow

third-person singular presentthows
present participlethowing
past participlethowed
pastthowed

Questions about thow

What is thow the obsolete spelling of?
Thow is the obsolete spelling of thou.

Words near thow in the dictionary

  1. thousandsome
  2. thousandth
  3. thousandths
  4. thousandweight
  5. thousandweights
  6. thow
  7. thowel
  8. thowels
  9. thowght
  10. thowghts
  11. Thowgla Valley

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: thow (page history and authors); thou (page history and authors); thaw (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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Cite this entry: “thow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/thow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.