throes » throws

Chiefly in:   throws of passion , death throws

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • Indeed, even if an identified mass does have eight limbs it still may not be an octopus - it could be that you have happened upon a couple in the throws of passion or an amputee five-a-side football team. (The Octopus - Its Role and Identification in Society)
  • Ok, granted, I’m still in the orgasmic throws of those magical first 5 or 6 listens of a solidly great album, but discovering Barafundle is one of the best things to happen to me this year. (Amazon.com customer review)
  • This is a story that focuses on one family who find themselves in the throws of an alien invasion of earth with one intent: total extermination of mankind. (Truckblog movie review)
  • Joseph Califano, Jr., chairman of the National Center on Addiction & Substance Abuse, said, “Our Nation is in the throws of an epidemic, of controlled prescription drug abuse and addiction.” (Capital News)
  • Well, I think we want to tune it, but I can guess what the President is going to say…”Blah blah blah, we’re winning, blah, insurgency is in death throws, blah, our troops moral is great blah, Good night and God Bless America.” (americasdebate.com)
  • I don’t like goup sex. I can barely stand one person seeing me sweaty and uttering ridiculous phrases in the throws of passion, let alone an audience. (link)
  • This is the autobiographical equivalent of the back of a cereal packet but none the less brings a rather unique insight into the death throws of a government. (Amazon.com, customer review)

‘Throw’ seeming to have something to do with passionate or violent action.

[CW, 2005/09/11: Entry updated.]

| link | entered by Sravana Reddy, 2005/03/21 |

Commentaries

  1. 1

    Commentary by R Kistruck , 2005/03/23 at 3:04 pm

    Take her up tenderly,
    Lift her with care,
    Grab hold of a leg
    And a handful of hair;

    Swing her round savagely,
    And — when this palls —
    Heave ho! away with her!
    Into the stalls.

    (a skit on some famous tragic moment, in a Rossetti poem perhaps?)

  2. 2

    Commentary by Arnold Zwicky , 2005/07/14 at 3:56 pm

    Wilson Gray, in a posting to the American Dialect Society mailing list, 13 July 2005:

    In today’s Times review of the book, The Essence of Style, by Joan DeJean, the reviewer, William Grimes, notes the author’s use of “throws of passion” and what is probably the zillionth instance of “to the manor born.”

  3. 3

    Commentary by Simon , 2005/09/07 at 7:58 am

    “Death throws” Seems a very common usage.
    I first came across it in an amazon review
    “This is the autobiographical equivalent of the back of a cereal packet but
    none the less brings a rather unique insight into the death throws of a government.”
    www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obi…
    a google revealed lots of others for example.
    “Dance death throws?” which was a headline at The Age
    www.theage.com.au/article…

    www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obi…

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