thew

• IPA^(key): /θjuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

From Middle English thew, theow, from Old English þēow, þēo (“servant, slave; servile, not free, bond”), from Proto-Germanic *þewaz, *þegwaz (“servant; subject, servile”), from Proto-Indo-European *tekwos (“runner”), from Proto-Indo-European *tekʷ- (“to run, flow”). Cognate with Old High German diu (“servant”) and dio (“unfree”), Gothic 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐍃 (þius, “bondman, slave, servant”), Dutch dienen (“to serve”), German dienen (“to serve”), Old English þegn (“servant, minister, vassal”). See thegn, thane.

thew (plural thews)

1. (obsolete) A bondman; a slave.

thew (comparative more thew, superlative most thew)

1. (obsolete) Bond; servile.

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”).

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

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

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]

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.

• 1602 : Hamlet by William Shakespeare, act 1 scene 3 lines 11–14

  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.

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

1. Instruct in morals or values; chastise.

• thewed

• whet

• IPA^(key): /θɛu̯/

thew

1. Aspirate mutation of tew.