thew

Etymology 1

From Middle English theu, thew (“way of behaving towards others, bearing, manners; habit, practice; good manners, courtesy; characteristic act; characteristic, trait; custom, tradition; established rule, ordinance; injunction; moral character; (in the plural) set of moral principles, morals; moral quality, virtue or vice; might, power, strength”) [and other forms] (often in the plural form theus, thewes), from Old English þēaw (“general practice of a community, custom, usage; mode of conduct, behaviour, manner; (in the plural) customs, virtue”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *þauw, from Proto-West Germanic *þawwaz (“custom; habit”); further etymology uncertain, tentatively identified by the Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen (Etymological Dictionary of Old High German) as a reflex of an s-less variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)tāu-, *(s)te- (“to stand; to place”), from *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). cognates * Old Frisian thāw * Old High German dau, thau (“coercion; discipline; tuition”) * Old Saxon thau (“custom, usage; habit”)

noun

1. (archaic, chiefly in the plural, also figurative)
   1. An attractive physical attribute; also, physical, mental, or moral strength or vigour.
   2. An aspect of the body which indicates physical strength; hence, muscle and/or sinew; muscular development.
      A peculiar double of his was sole inhabitant in this tilt of memory: Fortune’s elf child and disinherited darling, young and randy and more a Jolly Jack Tar than anyone human could conceivably be; thews and chin taut against a sixty-knot gale with a well-broken-in briar clenched in the bright defiant teeth; […] 16 March 1960, Thomas Pynchon, “Low-lands”, in Slow Learner: Early Stories, Boston, Mass., Toronto, Ont.: Little, Brown and Company, published 1984, pages 59–60
      Litha's moon gleams high o'er the tallest oak, / Ancient king in this sylvan court of elm, ash and yew. / The wood-spirits watch from gnarled bough and bole, / As I pull two Mercian shafts from my bloodied thews. 2 November 1998, Byron Roberts, Jonny Maudling, Chris Maudling (lyrics and music), “A Tale from the Deep Woods”, in Battle Magic, performed by Bal-Sagoth
2. (obsolete, chiefly in the plural)
   1. A way of behaving; hence, a characteristic, a trait.
   2. (specifically) A good characteristic or habit; a virtue.
      This poeticall licence is a ſhrewde fellow, and couereth many faults in a verſe, […] and to conclude it turkeneth all things at pleaſure, for example, ydone for done, adowne for downe, orecome for ouercome, tane for taken, power for powre, heauen for heavn, thewes for good partes or good qualities, and a numbre of whiche were but tedious and needleſſe to rehearſe, ſince your owne iudgement and readyng will ſoone make you eſpie ſuch aduantages.] [1575, George Gascoigne, Certayne Notes of Instruction. Concerning the Making of Verse or Ryme in English,[…]; reprinted in Edward Arber, editor, 1. Certayne Notes of Instruction in English Verse. 1575.[…] (English Reprints; vol. 3, no. 11), large paper edition, London: J. & W. Rider, 1 October 1869, →OCLC, paragraph 12, page 37

Etymology 2

From Middle English theuen, thewe (“to instruct in morals or values; to teach, train”) [and other forms], from theu, thew (noun) (see etymology 1) + -en (suffix forming the infinitives of verbs).

verb

1. (transitive, obsolete) To instruct (someone) in morals or values; also (more generally) to chastise or discipline (someone); to teach or train (someone).