Meaning

An attractive physical attribute; also, physical, mental, or moral strength or vigour..

Definitions by Sense

1. An attractive physical attribute; also, physical, mental, or moral strength or vigour.
2. An aspect of the body which indicates physical strength; hence, muscle and/or sinew; muscular development.
3. A way of behaving; hence, a characteristic, a trait.
4. A good characteristic or habit; a virtue.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To instruct (someone) in morals or values; also (more generally) to chastise or discipline (someone); to teach or train (someone).

Example Sentences

I felt the thews of Anakim, / The pulses of a Titan's heart.

[C]are I for the limbe, the thevves, the ſtature, bulke and big aſſemblance of a man: giue me the ſpirit […]

[…] Romans novv / Haue Thevves, and Limbes, like to their Anceſtors; / But vvoe the vvhile, our Fathers mindes are dead, / And vve are gouern'd vvith our Mothers ſpirits, / Our yoake, and ſufferance, ſhevv vs VVomaniſh.

For nature creſſant does not grovve alone / In thevvs and bulkes, but as this temple vvaxes, / The invvard ſervice of the minde and ſoule / Grovves vvide vvithal, […]

Would'ſt thou afford him to me for a guard / Or ſweeper of my ſtalls, or to ſupply / My kids with leaves, he ſhould on bulkier thewes / Supported ſtand, though nouriſh'd but with whey.

[M]y fellow traveller, to judge by his thewes and sinews, was a man who might have set danger at defiance with as much impunity as most men. He was strong, and well-built; and, judging from his gold-laced hat and cockade, seemed to have served in the army, or, at least, to belong to the military profession in one capacity or other.

[T]hou hast some days yet to rest here and grow stout, for I would not have thee present thyself with a visage of chalk to a man who values his kind mainly by their thews and their sinews.

All round, her unpanelled, open bulwarks were garnished like one continuous jaw, with the long sharp teeth of the sperm whale, inserted there for pins, to fasten her old hempen thews and tendons to. Those thews ran not through base blocks of land wood, but deftly travelled over sheaves of sea-ivory.

Word Forms

• thews
• thewing
• thewed

Related Words

When Should You Use Thew?

Use thew when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions