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Webster 1913 Edition


Thew

Thew

(thū)
,
Noun.
[Chiefly used in the plural
Thews
(thūz)
.]
[OE.
thew
,
þeau
, manner, habit, strength, AS.
þeáw
manner, habit (cf.
þȳwan
to drive); akin to OS.
thau
custom, habit, OHG.
dou
. √56.]
1.
Manner; custom; habit; form of behavior; qualities of mind; disposition; specifically, good qualities; virtues.
[Obs.]
For her great light
Of sapience, and for her
thews
clear.
Chaucer.
Evil speeches destroy good
thews
.
Wyclif (1 Cor. xv. 33).
To be upbrought in gentle
thews
and martial might.
Spenser.
2.
Muscle or strength; nerve; brawn; sinew.
Shak.
And I myself, who sat apart
And watched them, waxed in every limb;
I felt the
thews
of Anakim,
The pules of a Titan’s heart.
Tennyson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Thew

THEW

,
Noun.
Manner; custom; habit; form of behavior. [Not in use.]
1.
Brawn. [Not in use.]

Definition 2024


thew

thew

English

Noun

thew (plural thews)

  1. (obsolete) A bondman; a slave.

Adjective

thew (comparative more thew, superlative most thew)

  1. (obsolete) Bond; servile.

Etymology 2

From Middle English thewen, from Old English þēowan, þȳwan (to press, impress, force, press on, urge on, drive, press with a weapon, thrust, pierce, stab, threaten, rebuke, subjugate, crush, push, oppress, check), from Proto-Germanic *þewjaną (to enslave, oppress), from Proto-Indo-European *tekw- (to run, flow). Cognate with Middle Dutch douwen, Middle Low German duwen, Middle High German diuhen, dūhen, diuwen (to oppress).

Verb

thew (third-person singular simple present thews, present participle thewing, simple past and past participle thewed)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To oppress; enslave.

Etymology 3

From Middle English thew, theaw (often in plural thewes), from Old English þēaw (usage, custom, general practise of a community, mode of conduct, manner, practise, way, behaviour). Cognate with Old Frisian thāw, Old Saxon thau (custom). possibly reflected in an Old High German *dou (discipline, coercion, tuition); West Germanic *þawwaz (custom, habit), of unknown etymology, by EWAhd tentatively identified as a reflex of an s-less variant of Proto-Indo-European (s)tāu- (s)te- (to stand, place).[1]

Noun

thew (plural thews)

  1. Muscle or sinew.
    • 1927, P. G. Wodehouse, 'The Small Bachelor', Arrow, 2008, page 247
      As a rule, the Purple Chicken catered for the intelligentsia of the neighbourhood, and these did not run to thews and sinews. On most nights in the week you would find the tables occupied by wispy poets and slender futurist painters...
    • 1960, Thomas Pynchon, Low-Lands
      Fortune’s elf child and disinherited darling, young and randy and more a Jolly Jack Tar than anyone human could conceivably be; thews and chin taut against a sixty-knot gale with a well-broken-in briar clenched in the bright defiant teeth
  2. A good quality or habit; virtue.
  3. An attractive physical attribute, especially muscle; mental or moral vigour.
Quotations
  • 1602 : Hamlet by William Shakespeare, act 1 scene 3 lines 11-12-13-14
    For nature crescent does not grow alone
    In thews and bulks, but as this temple waxes,
    The inward service of the mind and soul
    Grows wide withal.
Derived terms

Verb

thew (third-person singular simple present thews, present participle thewing, simple past and past participle thewed)

  1. Instruct in morals or values; chastise.
Derived terms
References
  1. Köbler, Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, (6. Auflage) 2014 s.v. "dou", citing Lloyd et al. (eds.), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (EWAhd) vol. 2 (1998), p. 741.

Anagrams


Welsh

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /θɛu̯/

Adjective

thew

  1. Aspirate mutation of tew.

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
tew dew nhew thew
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.