A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 2001 (DOST Vol. X).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Thow, n.1 [Late ME and e.m.E. þowe (Lydgate), thowe (Prompt. Parv.), thawe (15th c.), ON þa thawed ground; Thow v.] A thaw. Also proverb. —1531 Bell. Boece II 179.
The lochis and rivaris stude frosin … efter quhilk followit ane thow 1635 Chron. Perth 34.
Ane hudge snow, … thair came a gentill thow, blessed be God 1645 Ritchie Ch. S. Baldred 271.
Thair was no keiping of Yoole … the thow was bot neulie begun that day, and the day verie roughe 1662 Nicoll Diary 387.
Frost and snow … dissolving in a calme thow —proverb. a1598 Ferg. Prov. MS No. 1069.
Many frost many thow maks many ane rotten yew
