straw
nounEtymology
From Middle English straw, from Old English strēaw, from Proto-West Germanic *strau, from Proto-Germanic *strawą (“that which is strewn, straw”), from Proto-Indo-European *strew- (“to spread around, strew”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Sträi (“straw”), West Frisian strie (“straw”), Dutch stro (“straw”), German Low German Stroh (“straw”), German Stroh (“straw”), Danish, Norwegian and Swedish strå (“straw”), Icelandic strá (“straw”), Walloon strin, Albanian shtrohë (“kennel”).
Definitions
A dried stalk of a cereal plant.
Such dried stalks considered collectively
Such dried stalks considered collectively; this bulk matter may be a chief salable product, a by-product, fodder, bedding, or green manure, depending on region and on current market conditions.
A drinking straw.
›+ 10 more definitionsshow fewer
A pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
Anything proverbially worthless
Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing.
- to not care a straw
- ‘For thy sword and thy bow I care not a straw, Nor all thine arrows to boot; If I get a knop upon thy bare scop, Thou canst as well shite as shoote.’
- He also decided, which was more to his purpose, that Eleanor did not care a straw for him, and that very probably she did care a straw for his rival.
A straw owner.
Made of straw.
- straw hat
Of a pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
Imaginary, but presented as real.
- A straw enemy built up in the media to seem like a real threat, which then collapses like a balloon.
To scatter or to spread loosely.
To lay straw around plants to protect them from frost.
To sell straws on the streets in order to cover the giving to the purchaser of things…
To sell straws on the streets in order to cover the giving to the purchaser of things usually banned, such as pornography.
- It was the custom for the disaffected of those days to make known their grievances by distributing papers on doors of public buildings, and even strawing them in the high way, for the benefit of the chance passenger.
A surname transferred from the nickname.
The neighborhood
- neighborbalibuntal
- neighborbuntal
- neighborcorn dolly
- neighboretiolated
- neighborfescue
- neighborhuarache
- neighborleghorn
- neighborpaillasse
- neighborpaillette
- neighborpallet
- neighborparabuntal
- neighborrick
Derived
a drowning man will clutch at a straw, a drowning man will grab at a straw, a drowning man will grasp at a straw, a straw shows how the wind blows, a straw shows which way the wind blows, bang straw, bang-straw, bedstraw, bendy straw, broomstraw, buy straw hats in winter, called to straw, clutch at a straw, crazy straw, drinking-straw, grab at a straw, grasp at a straw, in the straw, neststraw, oatstraw, onion straw, poppy straw, sampling straw, soda straw, spoon straw, straw bail, strawbale, straw ballot, strawbed, straw-bed, straw bed, strawberry, straw bid, straw-bottomed, strawbreaker, straw cat, straw-clutching, straw-clutchingly, straw-colored, strawcraft · +53 more
Vish — recursive loop
A definitional loop anchored at straw. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.
A definitional loop anchored at straw. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.
7 hops · closes at straw
curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA