# throe

Pronunciation: say "THROH" US /θɹoʊ/, UK /θɹəʊ/

## Noun

1. A severe pain of labor or childbirth, or the suffering felt as a person dies.
   - Simple: Sharp pain felt during childbirth, or the suffering of a dying person.
   - _With every throe, the laboring woman gripped the midwife's hand._
   - _He watched his father slip into the throes of death._
2. A hard struggle, especially one tied to the beginning or completion of a demanding task.
   - Simple: A hard struggle, especially when starting or finishing a difficult job.
   - _The nation was in the throes of revolution when the treaty was signed._
   - _Each throe of the merger negotiations tested the executives' patience._
3. A severe pang or spasm, especially a sudden, overwhelming outburst of feeling.
   - Simple: A sudden strong pain or burst of feeling that grips you.
   - _A throe of nausea passed through him as the ship rolled._
   - _Throes of rage overtook the crowd as the verdict was read._
4. A severe pang or spasm of pain, such as the contractions of childbirth or the agony of approaching death.
   - Simple: A sharp, strong pain or spasm, like the kind felt in childbirth or while dying.
   - _Each throe of the spasm left him weaker than the last._
   - _She cried out as the throes of labor intensified._

## Verb

5. To struggle in extreme pain; to be in agony. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To suffer great pain and struggle in agony.
   - _The condemned prisoners throe in their cells through the final night._
   - _He throed upon the rack until he lost consciousness._
6. To cause someone to writhe in agony, as if in the pangs of childbirth. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To make someone feel terrible pain and put them in agony.
   - _Guilt throed him night after night._
   - _These visions throe the dreamer with unbearable dread._

## Noun

7. A cleaving tool with a blade set at a right angle to the handle, used to split staves or shingles from a block of wood. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A tool with a blade used to split wood into shingles or thin strips.
   - _The cooper drove the throe down the grain to free a clean stave._
   - _With a few blows, she rived the shingles from the block using a throe._

## Origin

**Meanings 1–6** — The noun probably comes partly from Middle English throu, throwe, meaning uterine contractions in childbirth, pain, or emotional distress, perhaps from Old English þrawu, a variant of þrēa ("affliction, torment"), and related to Old English þrōwian ("to endure, suffer") and Old Norse þrá ("longing"), all going back to Proto-Germanic *þrawō ("longing, suffering"). The current spelling is a 16th-century variant, perhaps to avoid confusion with "throw," and the verb comes from the noun.
**Meaning 7** — Perhaps a variant of "froe."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/throe (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).