Straw
[strɔː] or [strɔ]
Definition
(noun.) a thin paper or plastic tube used to suck liquids into the mouth.
(noun.) plant fiber used e.g. for making baskets and hats or as fodder.
(verb.) cover or provide with or as if with straw; 'cows were strawed to weather the snowstorm'.
(adj.) of a pale yellow color like straw; straw-colored .
Typed by Doreen--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To spread or scatter. See Strew, and Strow.
(n.) A stalk or stem of certain species of grain, pulse, etc., especially of wheat, rye, oats, barley, more rarely of buckwheat, beans, and pease.
(n.) The gathered and thrashed stalks of certain species of grain, etc.; as, a bundle, or a load, of rye straw.
(n.) Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing; a mere trifle.
Inputed by Cathleen
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Stalk (of grain after being thrashed).
Checked by Harlan
Definition
n. the stalk on which corn grows and from which it is thrashed: a quantity of these when thrashed: anything worthless the least possible thing.—ns. Straw′berry the delicious and fragrant fruit of any of the species of the genus Fragaria the plant itself; Straw′berry-leaf a symbolic ornament on the coronets of dukes marquises and earls—in pl. a dukedom; Straw′berry-mark a soft reddish n鎣us or birth-mark; Straw′berry-tree a species of Arbutus which produces a fruit resembling the strawberry; Straw′-board a kind of mill-board or thick card-board made of straw after it has been boiled with lime or soda to soften it; Straw′-col′our the colour of dry straw a delicate yellow.—adj. Straw′-col′oured of the colour of dry straw of a delicate yellowish colour.—ns. Straw′-cut′ter an instrument for chopping straw for fodder; Straw′-embroi′dery embroidery done by sewing straw on net; Straw′-house a house for holding thrashed straw; Straw′ing (slang) the sale of straws on the streets in order to cover the giving to the purchaser of things forbidden to be sold as indecent books &c.; Straw′-plait a narrow band of plaited wheat-straw used in making straw hats bonnets &c.; Straw′-stem the fine stem of a wine-glass pulled out from the material of the bowl instead of being attached separately: a wine-glass having such a stem.—adj. Straw′y made of or like straw.—Man of straw (see under Man).
Edited by Everett
Unserious Contents or Definition
If you dream of straw, your life is threatened with emptiness and failure. To see straw piles burning, is a signal of prosperous times. To feed straw to stock, foretells that you will make poor provisions for those depending upon you.
Typist: Theodore
Examples
- They rested on some straw in a loft until the middle of the night, and then rode forward again when all the town was asleep. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Might I ask you, Watson, to open that window, and then to put a match to the edge of the straw? Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- He had a broad straw hat on, with a violet-coloured ribbon round it. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- When he lay down on his straw bed, he thought he had done with this world. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Mrs. Murray made it, and it's sure to be right; it may be a straw's breadth shorter or longer-waisted, according to my having grown fat or thin. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- At moments it seemed to him he did not care a straw whether Ursula or Hermione or anybody else existed or did not exiSt. Why bother! D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Hay and straw were stored in that portion of the place, fagots for firing, and a heap of apples in sand. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- Now, what do I make with my straw? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- He had lain in a pile of straw in his sweat-soaked clothes and wound a blanket around him while he dried. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Who can care a straw, really, how the old patched-up Constitution is tinkered at any more? D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- Stiff, coarse straw will not answer unless packed very solid; finer and softer, as of thickly sown oats, is better, and the walls which it forms need not be quite so thick. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- Moreover, only the heads of the grain are cut, the straw being left standing. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- What do I make with my straw? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And the other women--my best friends--well, they use me or abuse me; but they don't care a straw what happens to me. Edith Wharton. The House of Mirth.
- They grow on this road, Meg, so do combs and brown straw hats. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- I don't think it signifies two straws about the 'Pioneer,' or Ladislaw, or Brooke's speechifying to the Middlemarchers. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I don't care two straws about your 'no harm is intended,' and you may be certain if there is any trouble it will be for you, not for me. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- I knew I was catching at straws; but in the wide and weltering deep where I found myself, I would have caught at cobwebs. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- But straws show . Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- I will answer for it, he never cared three straws about her--who could about such a nasty little freckled thing? Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- It might be her interest if she cared two straws about me. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Straws show which way the wind blows, and I've made several discoveries today. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Such men as this are feathers, chips, and straws. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Well, my dear Sir, we won't waste time in splitting straws,' resumed the little man, 'say--say--seventy. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- But Miss Bertram does not care three straws for him; _that_ is your opinion of your intimate friend. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
Inputed by Deborah