froe

See also: frö

English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /fɹoʊ/
  • Rhymes: -oʊ
  • Homophones: 'fro, fro

Etymology 1

Abbreviation of obsolete frower, from froward (“turned away”), referring to the orientation of the blade, at right angles to the handle. From late 16th century.[1]

Noun

froe (plural froes)

  1. A cleaving tool for splitting cask staves and shingles from a block of wood.
    Synonym: throe
    • 1997, Charles Frazier, chapter 4, in Cold Mountain, London: Hodder and Stoughton, page 88:
      Patch shingles on the barn roof: do we have a maul and froe?
Derived terms
  • froe club
Translations

Etymology 2

See frow.

Noun

froe (plural froes)

  1. (obsolete) A dirty woman; a slattern; a frow.
    • 1630, Michael Drayton, Nymphal IV, [from The Muses Elizium], 1793, The Works of the British Poets, Volume 3: Drayton, Carew & Suckling, page 618,
      Like to thoſe raging frantic froes / For Bacchus' feaſts prepared;

References
  1. "froe" on Oxford Living Dictionaries

Anagrams
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