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Dictionars o the Scots Leid

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.

Ded(e)-, Deid-, Dead-thraw, n. Also: dede-thrawe, dead-throw(e. [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 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 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 Crim. 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 1611-57 Mure Dido iii. 450.
Her half-dead sister, … In dead-throwe entring at the gates of death a 1627 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'Intyrefig. 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