Hypertext Webster Gateway: "throe"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Throe \Throe\, n. [OE. [thorn]rowe, [thorn]rawe, AS.
[thorn]re['a] a threatening, oppression, suffering, perhaps
influenced by Icel. [thorn]r[=a] a throe, a pang, a longing;
cf. AS. [thorn]reowian to suffer.]
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Throe \Throe\, v. i.
To struggle in extreme pain; to be in agony; to agonize.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Throe \Throe\, v. t.
To put in agony. [R.] --Shak.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
throe
n 1: severe spasm of pain: "the throes of dying"; "the throes of
childbirth"
2: hard or painful trouble or struggle: "a country in the
throes of economic collapse"
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