Throes - throws

These homophones have been confused.

• Throws is the plural of the noun ‘a throw’, as in “each player has two throws of the dice”.
• As a verb, throws is the 3rd person singular of the verb ‘to throw’, as in "He throws the ball".
• Throes are literally muscular spasms or contractions. We can say that a woman is ‘in the throes of childbirth’. We talk of the ‘death throes’ of a hunted animal – the last few desperate movements of the muscles of the dying organism. We can also use the word figuratively. A writer beating their brows for inspiration might be said to be ‘in the throes of composition’. A man groaning and twitching might be ‘in the throes of’ despair – or love!