Obs. Also 3–4 theu, 3–6 thewe. [Known before 1250: etymology obscure; app. from THEW v., in sense ‘chastise’; but OE. þýwan, þéowan ‘to press, squeeze, compress’ is also a possible source. The forms are identical with contemporary ones of THEW sb.1]
Name of an instrument or apparatus of punishment ordained, instead of the pillory, for women; often identified with the CUCKING-STOOL. Also in comb. thewpenny (cf. BURGHAL-PENNY).
The med.L. equivalent was collistrigium, i.e., an iron collar compressing and confining the neck.
1275. Rot. Hundred. (1818), II. 302/2. (Bassetlaw, Notts) Tempore domini Walteri de Gray [a. 1256] … levatum fuit le theu primo in villis ejusdem Archiepiscopi … jam xxx annis elapsis.
1287. Plac. dc Quo Warranto (1818), 11/1. Ibi habet tantummodo tumberellum et thewe. Ibid., 11/2. Cum soca et saka … boruhapeny et theupeny.
1290–1. Ipswich Domesday, lxxiv., in Blk. Bk. Admir. (Rolls), II. 164. Femmes qe sunt communs tenceresses … seyent eles chastiez par la juyse qe [est] apele le theu.
1364. Lett.-Bk. G. London, lf. 137. Consideratum fuit … quod præfata Alicia subhiat judicium cullistr’ pro mulieribus inde ordinat’ vocata la Thewe [trans. Riley, Mem. (1868), 319 That the said Alice should undergo the punishment of the pillory for women ordained, called the thewe.] Ibid. (1391), H., lf. 258 b. Quod eadem Isabella ponatur super le Thewe pro mulieribus ordinat’ … ibidem moratura per unam horam diei [trans., ibid., 526, that she should be put upon the thewe, for women ordained, for one hour of the day].
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 490/2. Thewe, or pylory, collistrigium.
c. 1450. Surtees Misc. (1888), 60. Ye sayd Burgese schall … ordan a pelory and a thew, lawfull and strang.
1483. Cath. Angl., 382/2. A Thewe, tripotheum (A. Collistrigium, et cetera).
15[?]. in Ms. Harl. 2115, lf. 77. Punire per iudicium de Thewe, hoc est ponere eas super Scabellum vocatum Cokestolle.
1533. Surtees Misc. (1888), 34 She shalnot chyde ne flyte,… oppen ridyng of the jebit, or thew, about the towne.
1577. Harrison, England, II. xix. (1877), 1. 310 It is not lawfull lor anie subiect … to … set vp furels, tumbrell, thew, or pillorie.
1696. Phillips (ed. 5), Thew, an old Word for a Cucking Stool.
Thew, sb.3 and v.1 ME. form of THEOW sb. and v.
