Throe in Scrabble and Meaning

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5-letter words (2 found)

4-letter words (9 found)

3-letter words (17 found)

2-letter words (11 found)

1-letter words (1 found)

You can make 40 words from throe according to the Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

Definitions and meaning of throe

throe

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /θɹəʊ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /θɹoʊ/
• Homophone: throw
• Rhymes: -əʊ

Etymology 1

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 grimace”).

The verb is derived:

• from the noun; and
• perhaps from Middle English throuen (verb) (see above).

Noun

throe (plural throes)

1. A severe pang or spasm of pain, especially one experienced when the uterus contracts during childbirth, or when a person is about to die.
   1. (usually in the plural) The pain of labour or childbirth; the suffering of death.
2. Any severe pang or spasm, especially an outburst of feeling; a paroxysm.
3. (figuratively, usually in the plural) A hard struggle, especially one associated with the beginning or finishing of a task.

Alternative forms

• throw (obsolete)

Derived terms

• death throe
• in the throes of
• throes of passion

Translations

See also

• Thesaurus:agony
• Thesaurus:pain

Verb

throe (third-person singular simple present throes, present participle throeing, simple past and past participle throed) (obsolete)

1. (transitive) To cause (someone) to feel throes, as if in childbirth; to put in agony.

   Synonyms: afflict, torture; see also Thesaurus:hurt
2. (intransitive) To feel throes; to struggle in extreme pain; to be in agony; to agonize.

   Synonyms: ache, thole; see also Thesaurus:suffer

Alternative forms

• throw (obsolete)

Translations

Etymology 2

Perhaps a variant of froe.

Noun

throe (plural throes)

1. Synonym of froe (“a cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood”).

   Synonym: frow

Translations

References

Further reading

• James A. H. Murray et al., editors (1884–1928), “Throe”, in A New English Dictionary on Historical Principles (Oxford English Dictionary), volume IX, Part 2 (Su–Th), London: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 368, column 1.
• “throe”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• threo-, Other, Toher, heort-, thero-, other, hetro, Rothe, rothe