þeaw

Meaning

1. habit, custom

   þæt hē his ferðlocan · fæste binde, healde his hordcōfan; · hyċġe swā hē wille.

   …that a noble habit is in a brave man, that he would tightly bind his spirit, keep his treasure-chamber; think as he want.

   …þæt biþ in eorle · indryhten þēaw,

2. customs, virtue, conduct, character

   Mine gebroðra, settað þises dæges gemynd ætforan eowrum eagum, and swa hwæt swa bið nu héfigtyme geðuht, eal hit bið on his wiðmetennysse geliðegod. Gerihtlæcað eower líf, and awendað eowre ðēawas, witniað mid wope eowre yfelan dæda, wiðstandað deofles costnungum; bugað fram yfele, and doð gód, and ge beoð swa micclum orsorgran on to-cyme þæ

   My brothers, set the remembrance of this day before your eyes, and whatsoever now appears to be trouble, it shall all be mitigated on comparison with it. Correct your lives, and change your conduct, punish your evil deeds with weeping, withstand the temptations of the devil; eschew evil and do good, and ye will be by so much the more secure at the advent of the eternal Judge, as ye now with terror

   c. 992, Ælfric, "The Second Sunday in the Lord's Advent"

Declension