thew

[ thyoo ]
See synonyms for: thewthewsthewy on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. Usually thews. muscle or sinew.

  2. thews, physical strength.

Origin of thew

1
before 900; Middle English; Old English thēaw custom, usage; cognate with Old High German thau (later dau) discipline; akin to Latin tuērī to watch

Other words from thew

  • thewy, adjective

Words Nearby thew

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use thew in a sentence

  • An unseen power lifted him from his bed, thew him across the room, and tossed him from one side of the room to the other.

  • This is, of course, no argument against the poems now-we mean it only as against the poets thew.

  • Alice Sheltoir, charged with being a common scold—to the thew.

    London | Walter Besant
  • When this is so, the thew or servus is like to appear as the unfreest of persons rather than as no person but a thing.

    Domesday Book and Beyond | Frederic William Maitland
  • What is more, we may say that every man who was not a thew was in some definite legal sense a free man.

    Domesday Book and Beyond | Frederic William Maitland

British Dictionary definitions for thew

thew

/ (θjuː) /


noun
  1. muscle, esp if strong or well-developed

  2. (plural) muscular strength

Origin of thew

1
Old English thēaw; related to Old Saxon, Old High German thau discipline, Latin tuērī to observe, tūtus secure

Derived forms of thew

  • thewy, adjective
  • thewless, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012