throe
/θɹəʊ/US/θɹoʊ/
throe noun: a severe pang or spasm of pain, especially one experienced when the uterus contracts during childbirth, or when a person is about to die.
Noun (1)
throe (plural throes)
- A 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.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
- The 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
- 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 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...
- 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
- A 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
Verb
throe (third-person singular simple present throes, present participle throeing, simple past and past participle throed)
- To 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...
- To 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
Noun (2)
throe (plural throes)
throe meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
throe in Tamil
- கடும்வலி, மிகைவலி
throe in Urdu
- الم شدید
throe in Malayalam
- പ്രാണവേദന, കടുത്ത നോവ്, പ്രസവവേദന
throe in Kannada
- ಸೇದುನೋವು, ಕಡುನೋವು
Examples of throe in a sentence
- [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]...
- 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...
- 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 […]...
- 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?1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], chapter XXI, in Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co....
Synonyms of throe
12 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of throe
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | throes |
| alternative form | throw |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | throes |
| present participle | throeing |
| past participle | throed |
| past | throed |
Origin of throe
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...
Perhaps a variant of froe.
Words formed from throe
Words that rhyme with throe
Questions about throe
- What does throe mean?
- Throe means a severe pang or spasm of pain, especially one experienced when the uterus contracts during childbirth, or when a person is about to die.
- What is throe in Tamil?
- Throe in Tamil is கடும்வலி, மிகைவலி. See Throe meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use throe in a sentence?
- [M]ine own entrails did sustain / Moan for my daughter's yet unended throes, […]
- What part of speech is throe?
- Throe can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce throe?
- Throe is pronounced /θɹəʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of throe?
- The plural of throe is throes.
Words near throe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: throe (page history and authors); throe (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); throe (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); throe (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); throe (Kannada Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-throe.wav.
Cite this entry: “throe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/throe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.