Definition of "throe" [throe]

• A severe pang or spasm of pain, as in childbirth. See Synonyms at pain. (noun)
• A condition of agonizing struggle or trouble: a country in the throes of economic collapse. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A public licking for the throe was the least they could expect."
• "Something was happening in the mind of the poet, the "funeral in my brain", the volcanic "throe"."
• "And he felt the stir in him, like a throe of yearning pain, of the desire to paint these visions that flashed unsummoned on the mirror of his mind."