throe
pronunciation
How to pronounce throe in British English:
UK [θrəʊ]
How to pronounce throe in American English:
US [θroʊ]
-
- Noun:
- severe spasm of pain
- hard or painful trouble or struggle
Word Origin
- throe (n.)
- c. 1200, throwe "pain, pang of childbirth, agony of death," of uncertain origin, possibly from Old English þrawan "twist, turn, writhe" (see throw (v.)), or altered from Old English þrea (genitive þrawe) "affliction, pang, evil; threat, persecution" (related to þrowian "to suffer"), from Proto-Germanic *thrawo (cognates: Middle High German dro "threat," German drohen "to threaten"). Modern spelling first recorded 1610s. Related: Throes.
Example
- 1. Indeed , this is precisely what one would expect from an oil era entering a long , slow death throe : each time output throttles up , oil prices rebound , purchasing power drops and the economy stalls .
- 2. Generally speaking , people in indonesia are still not mentally prepared to carry out democracy , and they are still probably enduring throe brought by political and economic transition for a long time .
- 3. And he felt the stir in him , like a throe of yearning pain , of the desire to paint these visions that flashed unsummoned on the mirror of his mind .