throe

noun

1. (error-lua-exec)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.”

   “[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.”

2. (error-lua-exec, plural-normally)A severe pang or spasm of pain, especially one experienced when the uterus contracts during childbirth, or when a person is about to die.

   “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: […]”

3. 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, […]”

   “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; […]”

4. (figuratively, plural-normally)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).”

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

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive)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.”

2. (intransitive, obsolete)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.”