Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A well-developed sinew or muscle.
- n. Muscular power or strength. Often used in the plural.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A bondman; a slave.
- Bond; servile.
- To oppress; enslave.
- n. Custom; habit; manner; usually in the plural, customs; habits; manners; morals; qualities; moral traits; conditions.
- n. A muscle; a sinew: used generally in the plural.
- n. A cucking-stool; perhaps, also, a form of pillory.
- n. An old or provincial or artificial preterit of thaw.
Wiktionary
- n. obsolete A bondman; a slave.
- adj. obsolete Bond; servile.
- v. transitive, obsolete To oppress; enslave.
- n. Muscle or sinew.
- n. A good quality or habit; virtue.
- n. An attractive physical attribute, especially muscle; mental or moral vigour.
- v. Instruct in morals or values; chastise.
GNU Webster's 1913
Etymologies
- 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"), from Proto-Germanic *þawwaz (“custom, habit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tāu-, *(s)te- (“to stand, place”). Cognate with Old Frisian thāw, Old Saxon thau ("custom"), Old High German *gathau, kathau ("discipline"). (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, individual habit, virtue, strength (sense influenced by sinew), from Old English thēaw, a custom, habit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“If you want a democrat in thew white it best if everyone unite behind Hillary.”
Polls show Clinton stronger against McCain in crucial states
“Put any obstruction in thew waste line, and your problems will begin. michael bailey Says:”
POOPTRICITY: Want Electricity? Flush Your Turbine Toilet! | Inhabitat
“Let The Right One In hits theaters next month, but a English-language remake is already in thew works with Cloverfield director Matt Reeves at the helm.”
“And unfortunately for the rest of us in thew world, those people include the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense.”
“The one thing I can say is that the notario I work for is honest -- something I definitely wouldn't say about all notarios (or attorneys anywhere in thew world).”
“Jennifer Granholm I'd be more worried about your lack of leadership and the way you are running thew once great state of Michigan into the ground but that's what democrats do.”
“Won't make a difference because there bhas been no real changes since thew Republicans controlled everything.”
“This is a fictional story, made up to show how thew legal system use and should work.”
“Not just the sake of law but of justice for thew many who came here legally.”
“I just thew up in my mouth a little bit … nope, wait … it was a whole bunch …”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘thew’.
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[Open] Correctly-spelled words that l...
Thanks to everyone who added to this list. (I moved it to a new URL, so all the words added on the first day are credited to me—sorry about that.)
(Here’s the original list with a slo...orignal, refect, collum, lightening, manakin, neumatic, mutch, miosis, radicle, tryptic, kyack, apatite and 119 more...
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Favorite Words
pablum, maundy, histrionic, adamant, ascribe, verbiage, insouciant, erudite, gregarious, superfluous, banal, obdurate and 280 more...
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Reading Reading
Words from the works of Peter Reading - at least one from each (except the Schwitters-esque erosions, cut-ups etc).
overbright, pimpled, muskiness, effuse, stoup, maul, unlevel, viscid, perfidious, glibly, aloes, drouth and 449 more...
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Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, T
torquate, thalassocracy, toothsome, travois, tempestuous, tone, tincture, tripwire, tether, trill, tenacious, travesty and 355 more...
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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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A Peckerwick of Fiffoldry
fogray, whalesong, solregn, shoecabbage, thorn-bush, thistledown, pomander, thornbush, dreamy duskywing, sedge, unbunting-like, quilp and 119 more...
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new acquisitions
found in the wild (i.e., not on Wordie!)
samara, indehiscent, paschal, rogation, wen, rete, diriment, epicene, duramen, euhemerism, objurgate, canaille and 429 more...
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rduke's Words
misguggle, ken, sere, etiolated, gelid, digladiate, popinjay, bathykolpian, conglaciation, hyperborean, callipygian, vagile and 1253 more...
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Emma Jewell's Fancy Words
hone, acoustics, plexus, cacophony, meager, estuary, molecular, coherence, din, audacious, abstract, juxtapose and 9 more...
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Thths
þ
oath, both, auth, goth, ruth, moth, sith, heth, bath, cuth, loth, path and 70 more...
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titles
remanence, brank, liquescent, enfleurage, ampliate, fautor, thew, dredge, splenetic, turbination, mephitis, flitch and 2 more...
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New or Interesting Words
New or interesting words that I'd like to spend more time getting to know better.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for thew.
knitandpurl "Greek schemers seek egress en ténèbres, then enter the melee — the welter where berserk tempers seethe whenever men's mettle, then men's fettle, gets tested; there, the Greek berserkers sever men's thews, then shred men's flesh."
Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 44 May 21, 2010
pterodactyl Your favorite list? Gosh!
*feels very honored*
*also provides a link* Jun 30, 2008
asativum Nobody is listing Nicknames you shouldn't give to an axe-wielding, loincloth-wearing barbarian warrior with bulging thews. Why don't you? Jun 29, 2008
dontcry Nicknames you shouldn't give to an axe-wielding, loincloth-wearing barbarian warrior with bulging thews. My favorite list! Jun 29, 2008
yarb ...the delicate, shy, pale Flora
(who strains and frets under sleek black thew)...
- Peter Reading, Dark Continent, from Diplopic, 1983 Jun 29, 2008