Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Stalks of threshed grain, used as bedding and food for animals, for thatching, and for weaving or braiding, as into baskets.
  • noun A single stalk of threshed grain.
  • noun Pieces or a piece of natural or artificial strawlike material.
  • noun Something, such as a hat or basket, made of straw.
  • noun A slender tube used for sucking up a liquid.
  • noun Something of minimal value or importance.
  • noun The least valuable bit; a jot.
  • noun Something with too little substance to provide support in a crisis.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or made of straw.
  • adjective Containing or used for straw, as a barn or feeding trough.
  • adjective Of the color of straw; yellowish.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or constituting a straw man.
  • adjective Apparently legitimate but actually intended as a cover for illegal or secret activity.
  • idiom (final/last) The final annoyance or setback, which even though minor makes one no longer able to endure something.
  • idiom (straw in the wind) A slight hint of something to come.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The stalk or stem of certain species of grain, pulse, etc., chiefly of wheat, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, and pease, cut or broken off (and usually dry); also, a piece of such a stem.
  • noun Such stalks collectively, especially after drying and threshing: as, a load of straw. In this sense a collective without plural.
  • noun Figuratively, anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing.
  • noun A slight fact, taken as an instance in proof of a tendency.
  • noun A clay pipe, especially a long one.
  • noun Same as straw-needle.
  • noun In entomology, a stick-insect; a walking-stick.
  • Made or composed of straw: as, a straw hat.
  • Sham; fictitious; useless: as, a straw bid. Compare straw bail, under bail, 5.
  • To furnish or bind with straw; apply straw to.
  • An obsolete or dialectal form of strew.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To spread or scatter. See strew, and strow.
  • noun A stalk or stem of certain species of grain, pulse, etc., especially of wheat, rye, oats, barley, more rarely of buckwheat, beans, and pease.
  • noun The gathered and thrashed stalks of certain species of grain, etc..
  • noun Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing; a mere trifle.
  • noun an effigy formed by stuffing the garments of a man with straw; hence, a fictitious person; an irresponsible person; a puppet.
  • noun [Colloq. U.S.] worthless bail, as being given by irresponsible persons.
  • noun [Colloq. U.S.] a worthless bid; a bid for a contract which the bidder is unable or unwilling to fulfill.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the pampas cat.
  • noun the color of dry straw, being a delicate yellow.
  • noun a drain filled with straw.
  • noun a strip formed by plaiting straws, used for making hats, bonnets, etc.
  • noun [Slang] to be brought to bed, as a pregnant woman.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun countable A dried stalk of a cereal plant.
  • noun uncountable Such dried stalks considered collectively.
  • noun countable A drinking straw.
  • noun a pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
  • adjective Made of straw.
  • adjective Of a pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thin paper or plastic tube used to suck liquids into the mouth
  • verb cover or provide with or as if with straw

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English strēaw; see ster- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English strēaw, from Proto-Germanic *strawan ‘that which is strewn’. Cognate with Dutch stro, German Stroh, Swedish strå, Albanian strohë ("kennel").

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Examples

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  • Warts in reverse.

    July 22, 2007