Meaning of Throe | Babel Free

Definitions

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.
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2. Synonym of froe (“a cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood”).
   obsolete
3. The pain of labour or childbirth; the suffering of death.
   error-lua-exec, plural-normally
4. Any severe pang or spasm, especially an outburst of feeling; a paroxysm.
5. A hard struggle, especially one associated with the beginning or finishing of a task.
   figuratively, plural-normally

Equivalents

Examples

“O man haue mind⟳ of that laſt bitter throw⟳; / For as the tree does fall⟳, ſo lyes it euer low.”

“[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.”

“[M]ine own⟳ entrails did sustain / Moan for my daughter's yet unended throes, […]”

“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.”

“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.”

“In this Shape⟳, or in that, has Fate entail'd / The Mother's Throws on all of Woman born, / Not more the Children, than ſure Heirs of Pain.”

“[W]e never know⟳ the full force⟳ of parental affection till our children are about to be taken from us. It is then that we discover⟳ how strongly they have⟳ entwined themselves round our hearts; when we behold the fixed eye, the pale lips, the convulsive throws of death distorting the countenance; or when with aching and throbbing hearts we deposit⟳ those who are a part of ourselves in the cold and silent grave.”

“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?”

“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: […]”

“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, […]”

“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; […]”

“Seiz'd by the general joy, his heart diſtends / With gentle throws; […]”

“But ask⟳ thou not if Happiness be there, / If the loud laugh⟳ disguise convulsive throe, / Or if the brow the heart's true livery wear⟳; […]”

“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).”

CEFR level