A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)
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First published 1951 (DOST Vol. II).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1420, 1513-1627, 1698
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Ded(e)-, Deid-, Dead-thraw, n. Also: dede-thrawe, dead-throw(e; deitht-thrau. [Northern ME. ded thrau (c 1300), southern deth throw, but chiefly Sc.] The throes of death, the death-struggle.(a) c1420 Wynt. iii. 953.
He like wes … to rowt In tyll his dede thrawe till a nowte 1513 Doug. v. vii. 20.
He … Al flat hym speldyt on the dun sand, In the dedthrawis 1513 Ib. ix. vii. 101.
Down duschis he in ded thraw all forlost 1533 Bell. Livy I. 91/6.
Als sone as thir apparatouris … had tane vp the king swownand in the dede-thraw(b) 1531 Bell. Boece I. 240.
The hillis … resoundit … with maist terribil spraichis of … pepill in the deidthraw 1535 Stewart 18952.
The … cairfull cry In the deid thraw he maid 1535 Ib. 46375.
Sum in the deid thraw la … in swoun c1550 Lynd. Meldrum 1392.
Quhen this gude knicht the squyer saw, Thus lyand in till his deid thraw a1578 Pitsc. I. 319/19.
The Earle of Lennox, quhom he fand lyand slaine in the deid thraw 1616 Criminal Trials III. 384.
[Thai] war sa left spreuleing in thair deid-thrawis 1624 Ib. 573.
He being in the deid-thraw(c) a1605 Montg. Ch. & Slae (1597) 272.
Like to ane fische fast in the nette, In dead-thraw vndeceist c1614 Mure Dido iii. 450.
Her half-dead sister, … In dead-throwe entring at the gates of deatha1627 Craig v. 27.
Hee … fell downe, in dead-thraw 1698 Argyll Justic. Rec. I. 170.
Alexander Campbell carried her being in the dead thraw ... to the house of John M'Intyre(d) 1549 Complaynte of Scotland 121/16.
Quhen Darius vas in the agonya and deitht thraufig. 1590 James VI in Calderwood V. 82.
Getting … good craftsmen … for ending out the halfe perfytted Abbey, that lyes in suche a dead thraw as did the hoastie … betuixt the Spangnell preests hands
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"Dead-thraw n.". Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. Accessed 14 Dec 2025 <http://www.dsl.ac.uk/entry/dost/dead_thraw>
