Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun idiomatic A small and seemingly
insignificant addition to aburden that renders it too much tobear ; the small thing which causesfailure , or causes inability or unwillingness toendure any more of something.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Possibly from the proverb, recorded by Thomas Fuller in his Gnomologia as "Tis the last feather that breaks the horse's back." This comes from an Arab proverb about loading up a camel beyond its capacity to move, to the scenario of a single straw of grass or hay overwhelming the desert-roaming beast of burden.
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