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straw

Pronunciation: /strɔː/

Translate straw | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of straw

noun

  • 1 [mass noun] dried stalks of grain, used especially as fodder or as material for thatching, packing, or weaving: [as modifier]:a straw hat
  • [count noun] a single dried stalk of grain:the tramp sat chewing a straw
  • a pale yellow colour like that of straw.
  • 2a thin hollow tube of paper or plastic for sucking drink from a glass or bottle.

Phrases

clutch (or grasp or catch) at straws

be in such a desperate situation as to resort to even the most unlikely means of salvation.
[from the proverb a drowning man will clutch at a straw]

draw the short straw

be the unluckiest of a group of people, especially in being chosen to perform an unpleasant task.

draw straws

draw lots.

the last (or final) straw

a further difficulty or annoyance, typically minor in itself but coming on top of a series of difficulties, that makes a situation unbearable:his affair was the last straw
[from the proverb the last straw breaks the (laden) camel's back]

not care (or give) a straw (or two straws)

not have the slightest concern about:you don’t care a straw what I think

a straw in the wind

chiefly British a slight hint of future developments.

Derivatives

strawy

adjective

Origin:

Old English strēaw, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch stroo and German Stroh, also to strew

straw in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of straw in the US English dictionary

Nearby words

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