Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A cleaving tool having a heavy blade set at right angles to the handle.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See frow.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun obsolete A dirty woman; a slattern; a frow.
  • noun United States An iron cleaver or splitting tool; a frow.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from the block

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Earlier frower, possibly from froward, turned away (of the handle).]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word froe.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A metal splitting blade with a handle attached at right angles to the blade. Used with a maul.

    November 20, 2007

  • Usage on twibil.

    January 19, 2010

  • "At one end of the village, the old Trakt crossed a small river called the Esaulovka on an ancient ruined bridge. Its gray wooden crossbeams supported the ricketiest of planking; the planks were sawn lumber but the beams showed only the marks of a bladed tool like a froe or an adze."

    Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier, p 260

    February 18, 2011