Edit page | Page history | Printable version

throe

1. Extreme pain; violent pang; anguish; agony; especially, one of the pangs of travail in childbirth, or purturition. Prodogious motion felt, and rueful throes. (milton)

2. A tool for splitting wood into shingles; a frow.

Origin: OE. Rowe, rave, AS. Rea a threatening, oppression, suffering, perhaps influenced by Icel. Ra a throe, a pang, a longing; cf. AS. Reowian to suffer.