Throe (?), n. [OE. rowe, rave, AS. re�xa0; a threatening, oppression, suffering, perhaps influenced by Icel. ra a throe, a pang, a longing; cf. AS. 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.
© Webster 1913.
Throe, v. i.
To struggle in extreme pain; to be in agony; to agonize.
© Webster 1913.
Throe, v. t.
To put in agony.
[R.]
Shak.
© Webster 1913.