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-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”)
1
Also, Archaic, Figuratively, In plural An attractive physical attribute; also, physical, mental, or moral strength or vigour.
I felt the thews of Anakim, / The pulses of a Titan's heart.1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto CI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 157:
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Also, Archaic, Figuratively, In plural An aspect of the body which indicates physical strength; hence, muscle and/or sinew; muscular development.
[C]are I for the limbe, the thevves, the ſtature, bulke and big aſſemblance of a man: giue me the ſpirit […]c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henrie the Fourth, […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
[…] Romans novv / Haue Thevves, and Limbes, like to their Anceſtors; / But vvoe the vvhile, our Fathers mindes are dead, / And vve are gouern'd vvith our Mothers ſpirits, / Our yoake, and ſufferance, ſhevv vs VVomaniſh.1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 113, column 1:
4 more examples
For nature creſſant does not grovve alone / In thevvs and bulkes, but as this temple vvaxes, / The invvard ſervice of the minde and ſoule / Grovves vvide vvithal, […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
Would'ſt thou afford him to me for a guard / Or ſweeper of my ſtalls, or to ſupply / My kids with leaves, he ſhould on bulkier thewes / Supported ſtand, though nouriſh'd but with whey.1791, Homer, “[The Odyssey.] Book XVII.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, page 397, lines 269–272:
[M]y fellow traveller, to judge by his thewes and sinews, was a man who might have set danger at defiance with as much impunity as most men. He was strong, and well-built; and, judging from his gold-laced hat and cockade, seemed to have served in the army, or, at least, to belong to the military profession in one capacity or other.1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter III, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 60:
[T]hou hast some days yet to rest here and grow stout, for I would not have thee present thyself with a visage of chalk to a man who values his kind mainly by their thews and their sinews.1843, Edward Bulwer[-]Lytton, “Master Marmaduke Nevile Fears for the Spiritual Weal of His Host and Hostess”, in The Last of the Barons, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons […], →OCLC, book III (In which the History Passes from the King’s Court to the Student’s Cell, […]), page 100:
3
In plural, Obsolete A way of behaving; hence, a characteristic, a trait.
He with good thevves and ſpeaches vvell applyde, / Did mollifie, and calme her raging heat.1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 131:
A man of proof / Was Urien in his day; thought worthiest, / In martial thewes and manly discipline, / To train the sons of Owen.1805, Robert Southey, “Canto XVIII”, in Madoc, London: […] [F]or Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and A[rchibald] Constable and Co, […], by James Ballantyne, […], →OCLC, part II (Madoc in Aztlan), page 362:
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 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).
1
Obsolete To instruct (someone) in morals or values; also (more generally) to chastise or discipline (someone); to teach or train (someone).