throe

kouristus A pang, spasm.
1819, w:Percy Bysshe Shelley|Percy Shelley, w:The Masque of Anarchy|The Masque of Anarchy:

As if their own indignant Earth

Which gave the sons of England birth

Had felt their blood upon her brow,

And shuddering with a mother's throe

Had turned every drop of blood

By which her face had been bedewed

To an accent unwithstood, —

As if her heart had cried aloud: ...

SEBASTIAN:

Prithee, say on:

The setting of thine eye and cheek proclaim

A matter from thee, and a birth, indeed

Which throes thee much to yield.