death thro[][s]

[Victor Steinbok]

Ugh! Someone just posted a comment containing "death throws" in a
chatroom (yes, IRC still exists).

A quick review of dictionaries shows that Cambridge, Longman and
Macmillan have "death throes", plus Wordnik, but not much else. OED got
nut'n'.

But "death throes" does show up in OED in two definitions and seven
quotes--and one note under throw v.1

Flurry, n.
> b. The death-throes of a dying whale.

Rope dance, n.
> 2. The death throes of a person executed by hanging. Also in extended
> use. Now /arch./

throw v.1
> 2. /intr./ To turn, twist, curl, twine, writhe; of a moored boat: to
> swing, sway. Chiefly /Sc./Quots. 1513 at α. forms, 1650 at sense 33,
> appear to have the spec. meaning ‘to writhe in death-throes’; they are
> closely connected with /thraw/, northern form of throe n., and may
> perhaps be viewed as showing a Sc. form of throe v. 2.

Of course, this is only because the entry is singular: death-throe (also
in Wiktionary and FreeDictionary.com). And, of course, it has variants:

> Forms: α. ME deþ þrowe, 15 Sc. deitht thrau, 16–18 death-throe; β. Sc.
> and north. dial.ME ded thrau, dede þrawe, 15 dede-thraw, deid-thraw,
> 16 dead-throe, 18 dead-thraw, dead-throw.

It's interesting that there is a listing for "dead-throw" but not for
"death-throw". To make matters worse, there are no updated quotes in any
of the three lists past 1849. Correspondingly, there is also no notation
of any kind indicating the use of plural--nor any quotations to that
effect, save one--the latest one.

> 1849 F. W. Robertson /Serm./ (1866) 1st Ser. xii. 210 The death-throes
> of Rome were long and terrible.

It is my impression (which I am perfectly willing to relinquish in the
face of contrary evidence) that the plural form is far more common today.

And, of course, there is the eggcorn "death-throws".

VS-)

PS: I don't think I'd be out of line to suggest that the OED needs to
fix its search engine to allow for plural forms, much like Wikipedia.

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