- throe
- c.1200, throwe "pain, pang of childbirth, agony of death," possibly from O.E. þrawan "twist, turn, writhe" (see throw), or altered from O.E. þrea (gen. þrawe) "affliction, pang, evil, threat" (related to þrowian "to suffer"), from P.Gmc. *thrawo (cf. M.H.G. dro "threat," Ger. drohen "to threaten"). Modern spelling first recorded 1615.