▪ I. straw, n.1
(strɔː)
Forms: α. 1 stréaw, strau, 3 strauȝ, strauue, 3–7 strawe, 5 strauhe, strawh, 4– straw; β. 1 stréow, streu(w, strew (pl. strewu); γ. 1 stré, 1–5, 9 dial. stree, 4–6 stre (pl. stren), 5–6, 8–9 dial. strey, 7–9 dial. strea, streea, streay (7 pl. strease); δ. 3–9 north. stra (5 pl. strase), 6–7 Sc. strai, stray (pl. strais), 6–9 Sc. strae; ε. 5 strowh, 5–6 Sc. and north. stro, stroye, 7 stroe, 5–7 strowe.
[Com. Teut. (not found in Gothic): OE. stréaw neut. = OFris. strê (NFris. strâi, stre, WFris. strie), OS., MLG., MDu. strô (Du. stroo) neut., OHG., MHG. strô neut., gen. strawes, strôwes (mod.G. stroh masc.), ON. strá neut. (Sw. strå, Da. straa):—OTeut. *strawo-, f. root *strau-: streu-: see strew v.
The ON. form strá is prob. in part the source of the Sc. and Northern stra, strae, etc. and of the North Midland and Northern stro, though in some dialectal areas the normal phonetic development from OE. would issue in forms coincident with these. The Scottish stro of the 15–16th c. is a literary alteration of stra.]
I. Collective sing.
1. a. The stems or stalks (esp. dry and separated by threshing) of certain cereals, chiefly wheat, barley, oats, and rye. Used for many purposes, e.g. as litter and as fodder for cattle, as filling for bedding, as thatch, also plaited or woven as material for hats, beehives, etc.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. iv. (Z.) 8 Foenum, gærs oððe streow [v.rr. streaw, strau]. Ibid. xiii. (Z.) 83 Foenum strew [v.rr. streow, streaw, strau]. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 114 Bærne þanne streuw. c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 404 Sume hi cuwon heora ᵹescy,..sume streaw. a 1300 Cursor M. 7204 His bandes al he brac in tua, Als þai had ben made bot on stra. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus iii. 859 How is this candele in the strawe y-falle? 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 233 Whan he streyneth hym to streche þe strawe is his schetes. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 119 Swepte as þe pament from hilyyng of stree. 1388 ― Isa. lxv. 25 A lioun and an oxe schulen ete stree. 1422 Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. 239 Suche a stomake is likenyd to the litill fire, that may brande but flex or stree. c 1440 Lydg. Horse, Goose & Sheep 196 As pilwes been to chaumbris agreable, So is hard strauhe litteer for the stable. c 1450 J. Capgrave St. Gilbert vi. 71 On his bed had our maystir Gilbert..no bolstering but strawe. c 1460 Oseney Reg. (1913) 144 Þe chaffe schall Abide togedur with þe strow to me and to my heyres. c 1480 Henryson Test. Cresseid 439 And for thy Bed tak now ane bunche of stro [rime-words tho, ago]. 1491 in Acta Dom. Concil. (1839) 222/1 For hay & stra price xxiiij s. 1501 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. II. 124 Item,..to James Dog to by stray to the Kingis chamir in Invernes, xvj d. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §6 Horses..must haue..strawe for lytter. 1549 in Feuillerat Revels Edw. VI (1914) 43 For Strawe to Stuff the baggs, iiij{supd}. a 1568 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxv. 19 Lyk dust and stro [rime-word no] Bene vaneist w{supt} the wind. 1579 in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. 402/2 Yeirlie ane wedder, ane creill full of peittis and ane sled full of stray. 1593 Extracts Munic. Acc. Newcastle (1848) 31 Paide for stro, candle, drinke, and stringe, which bounde the semynaries armes before he was executed, 9d. 1637 Milton Lycidas 124 Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw. 1657 Lamont Diary (Maitl. Club) 100 None should be obleidged to bring any oatts to the English troupe horses any longer, but only stra hireafter. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 173/2 Blend Fodder, is Hay and Straw mixed. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scot. (1754) II. xxiii. 233 He dy'd at Hame, lik an auld Dug, on a Puckle o' Strae. 1765 Museum Rust. IV. 221 The straw of rye is much more valuable, both for thatching, bedding and fodder than the straw of wheat. 1797 Mrs. Radcliffe Italian x, Paolo soon after turned into his bed of straw. 1832 Veg. Subst. Food Man 45 The straw of summer wheat is more agreeable to cattle than that produced from winter sowing. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xix, She had the street laid knee-deep with straw; and the knocker put by. 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 417 It [sc. wheat] stooled out much more than either, and was uniform in ripeness and length of straw. 1875 W. Paterson Notes Milit. Surv. (ed. 3) 80 Load of straw = 36 trusses each of 36 lbs. |
b. fig. with reference to the small value of straw in comparison with the grain, or to its ready inflammability.
| c 1386 Chaucer Man of Law's T. 603 Me list nat of the chaf or of the stree Maken so long a tale as of the corn. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6354, I..go thurgh alle regiouns, Seking alle religiouns. But to what ordre that I am sworn, I take the strawe, and lete the corn. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iv. 52 Strongest oathes, are straw To th' fire ith' blood. |
† c. Thatch, thatched houses.
Obs.| 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 27 A small Village of Straw unworthy the notice. |
d. The colour of straw, a pale brownish-yellow.
| 1799 in M. Edgeworth Parent's Assistant (1800) (ed. 3) VI. 119 Mr. Davis, slate-color and straw. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 231/2 Silk Mitts..in the following colors:..sky blue, lemon, straw, cardinal. 1923 Daily Mail 19 Feb. 5 A full range of new colourings, including Peach, Lemon, Straw, Rose. 1942 R.A.F. Jrnl. 3 Oct. 15 A heavy, oily liquid, from straw to black in colour. 1978 A. S. Byatt Virgin in Garden xi. 111 Red was defiance, gold avarice, straw plenty. Green was hope, but sea-green was inconstancy. |
2. Phrases.
a. to make bricks without straw: said with allusion to
Exodus v.
The current form and application of the saying are hardly justified by the narrative. The Israelites were not required to make bricks without straw (which was an indispensable binding material for sun-dried bricks), but to gather the straw for themselves instead of having it furnished to them. The phrase, however, now commonly means ‘(to be required) to produce results without the means usually considered necessary’.
Cf. the accurate use in
quot. 1661.
| 1658 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 79 It is an hard task to make bricks without straw. 1661 Dk. Ormonde in 11th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 10 If they will not let that [act] passe..and yet will have us keepe armys, is it not requireing a tale of bricks, without allowing the straw. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library I. vi. 271 It is often good for us to have to make bricks without straw. 1883 M. B. Betham-Edwards Disarmed i. I. 5 The fact is, you are fast being spoiled. But your task from to-day will be to make bricks without straw. No appeal shall induce me to have pity on you. |
b. in the straw: in childbed, lying-in. So
out of the straw, recovered after childbearing.
In
quot. 1786 the phrase is taken to refer to the practice of laying down straw (to deaden noise) before a house where there is a confinement. It is doubtful whether this was the original meaning, though the practice was common.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Lincs. (1662) 149 Our English plain Proverb, De Puerperis, they are in the Straw; shows Feather-Beds to be of no ancient use amongst the Common sort of our Nation. 1705 [E. Ward] Hud. Rediv. iv. 18 We sipp'd our Fuddle, As Women in the Straw do Caudle. 1772 Grimston Papers (MS.), I hope your neighbour, Mrs. G., is safe out of the straw, and the child well. 1786 Burgoyne Heiress i. i, You take care to send [sc. cards] to all the lying-in ladies? Prompt. At their doors, Madam, before the first load of straw... Prompt. (Reading his memorandum as he goes out). Ladies in the straw—Ministers, &c...never a better list [etc.]. 1822 De Quincey Confess. (1823) 120 In the phrase of ladies in the straw, ‘as well as can be expected’. 1832 Marryat N. Forster xv, They found the lady in the straw. |
c. in the straw: (of corn) not yet threshed.
| 1701 C. Wolley Jrnl. New York (1860) 59, I paid for two load of Oats in the straw 18 shillings. 1702 Act 1 Anne Stat. ii. c. 10 §14 All Carts with..Corn in the Straw. |
d. to run to straw: see
run v. 69 e.
| 1659 Gauden Slight Healers (1660) 89 Physitians that are not by much study..run out to Atheism (as some corn in lusty ground doth to straw and halm). a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 13 You will find, that in such a case the corn will run out to a straw. 1765 [see run v. 69 e]. 1857 Livingstone Trav. xii. 215 It..would make corn run entirely to straw. |
e. man of straw: (
a) a person or thing compared to a straw image; a counterfeit, sham, ‘dummy’; similarly,
a face of straw, etc.; (
b) an imaginary adversary, or an invented adverse argument, adduced in order to be triumphantly confuted; (
c) a person of no substance,
esp. one who undertakes a pecuniary responsibility without having the means of discharging it; (
d) a fictitious or irresponsible person fraudulently put forward as a surety or as a party in an action.
| 1599 Return fr. Parnass. i. i. 231 [He] braggs..of his liberalitie to schollers..: but indeed he is a meere man of strawe, a great lumpe of drousie earth. 1615 Daniel Hymen's Tri. ii. i. Wks. (1623) 283 Idolatrize not so that Sexe, but hold A man of strawe more then a wife of gold [= Fr. proverb: ‘Un homme de paille vaut une femme d'or’]. 1624 Gataker Transubst. 92 To skirmish with a man of straw of his owne making. 1652 R. Saunders Balm to heal Relig. Wounds 82 He..strikes at randome at a man of straw. 1675 Wycherley Country Wife iv. iii. 67, I will not be your drudge by day, to squire your wife about, and be your man of straw, or scare-crow only to Pyes and Jays; that would be nibling at your forbidden fruit. 1677 2nd Packet Adv. to Men of Shaftesbury 52, I rather suppose the Some that say so never were men of God's making, but mere men of straw set up by Master Bencher, for a Tryal of his own Skill in Confutation. a 1734 North Exam. iii. vii. (1740) 508 The Verity of all such Suppositions denied, off drops the Vizor, and a Face of Straw appears. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 253 What is this but placing the essence of virtue in her outside, making her a man of straw, an empty covering containing nothing within? 1823 ‘Jon Bee’ Dict. Turf 167 ‘Man of straw’, a bill-acceptor, without property—‘no assets’. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxi, If the defendant be a man of straw, who is to pay the costs, Sir? 1840 De Quincey Style Wks. 1859 XI. 218 It is always Socrates and Crito, or Socrates and Phædrus,..in fact, Socrates and some man of straw or good-humoured nine-pin set up to be bowled down as a matter of course. 1876 L. Stephen Hours in Library II. ii. 67 But no man can dispense with the aid of a living antagonist, free from all suspicion of being a man of straw. 1885 Law Times' Rep. LIII. 484/1 The real plaintiff may assign his interest to a man of straw, and in such a case the court will require security to be given. |
† f. a pad in the straw: see
pad n.1 3.
Obs. † g. Mil. for straw: (see
quots.).
Obs.—0 [A rendering of
Fr. à la paille, from the phrase
aller à la paille, ‘to go in search of straw for the horses’, hence ‘to be allowed a short interval of rest from carrying arms’.]
| 1702 Milit. Dict. (1704) s.v., For Straw, is a word of command to dismiss the Soldiers when they have grounded their Arms, so that they be ready to return to them upon the first firing of a Musket, or beat of Drum. [Hence 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey); and many later Dicts.] |
† h. to condemn to straw: to declare worthy of a madhouse.
Obs.| 1779 Johnson L.P., Dryden (1868) 163 Virgil would have been too hasty if he had condemned him [Statius] to straw for one sounding line. |
3. a. Extended to denote the stalks of certain other plants, chiefly pease and buckwheat.
poppy straw: see
poppy n. 8.
| c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 156 Pernet dount de pessas [gloss] pese stree. 1579 E. K. Gloss. to Spenser's Sheph. Cal. 256 Vetchie, of Pease strawe. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. ii. 126 These Bottles are covered with the Straw of Canes. 1760 R. Brown Compl. Farmer ii. 83 The straw [of buckwheat] is good fodder for cattle. 1795 Vancouver Agric. Essex 178 To discontinue the practice of burning the straw of coleseed, mustard, coriander, carraway. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 628 The haulm or straw of the potatoe. 1892 Gardeners' Chron. 27 Aug. 237/2 Messrs. Carter should have preferred it if the straw [of a pea] had not been so long. |
b. U.S. Pine needles.
| 1856 Olmsted Slave States 321 The leaves, or straw, as its foliage [i.e. that of the yellow pine] is called here. 1860 Whitman Amer. Feuillage 36 The ground in all directions is cover'd with pine straw. |
c. In plant-names, as
camel's straw,
sea straw.
| 1516 Gt. Herbal ccclxxxvi. (1529) X iij b, Squinante is an herbe that is called camelles strawe, bycause camelles do eate it. c 1711 Petiver Gazophyl. x. 91 Sussex Sea-straw. |
4. The straw of wheat or other cereal plants plaited or woven to form a material for hats and bonnets; a kind or variety of this material, or an imitation of it (made,
e.g., from paper).
| 1730 Mrs. Eliz. Thomas Metam. Town (1731) 20 Straw, lin'd with Green, their May-day Hats. 1783 O'Keeffe Birth-day 17 With her stockings green, and her hat of straw. 1859 Ladies' Cabinet Nov. 278/1 Plain Dunstable straws continue to be worn. 1895 Daily News 20 Mar. 7/1 Paper straws are among the new things... Hats and bonnets made of these straws are inexpensive. 1902 Daily Chron. 1 Feb. 8/3 The newest straw resembles the petals of a flower, and is called chrysanthemum straw; also there is more lace straw going to be worn than last year. |
II. A single stem of a cereal, etc.
5. a. A stem of any cereal plant,
esp. when dry and separated from the grain; also, a piece of such a stem.
| c 1200 Vices & Virtues 135 Ne lat hie [Honestas] nawht ðe hande pleiȝende mid stikke, ne mid strawe. a 1225 Ancr. R. 296 Þe cwene seide ful soð þet mid one strea brouhte o brune alle hire huses, þet muchel kumeð of lutel. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 1745 In titering, and pursuite, and delayes, The folk devyne at wagginge of a stree. 1426 Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 1837 Lych hornys of a lytell snayl, Wych..for a lytel strawh wyl shrynke. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 94 in Babees Bk., Clense not thi tethe..With knyfe ne stre, styk ne wande. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. iii. 108 Those that with haste will make a mightie fire, Begin it with weake Strawes. 1675 Owen Indwelling Sin xvii. (1732) 233 No more Impression..than Blows with a Straw would give to an Adamant. 1732 Pope Ess. Man ii. 276 Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 817 The communication may be maintained by any slight tube, as a straw, or a reed. 1897 E. Howlett in W. Andrews' Legal Lore 92 In some manors the surrender [of lands] is effected by the delivery of a rod, in others of a straw. |
| transf. 1587 T. Newton Herbal for Bible xxvii. 150 Another kinde of Reede..hath a long, round and hollowe stalke or strawe, full of knottie ioints. |
† b. collective pl. = sense 1.
Obs.| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 143 In stede of mete gras and stres,..He syh. c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 362 With rysshes or with stren me most hem bynde [L. tunc iunco aut ulmo aut uimine stringimus]. 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis 299 Reasing the devill..With..Palme croces, and knottis of strease. |
c. poet. = oat n. 5.
rare. (
Cf. quot. 1637 in 1.)
| 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 913 When Shepheards pipe on Oaten strawes. 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. iii. 37 Dunce at the best; in Streets but scarce allow'd To tickle, on thy Straw, the stupid Crowd. |
d. A straw in the shoe is said to have been the sign by which loafers about the courts of law advertised their readiness to perjure themselves for money.
Cf. straw-shoe in 14.
| 1743 Fielding Jon. Wild i. ii, An eminent gentleman,..who was famous for so friendly a disposition, that he was bail for above a hundred persons in one year. He had likewise the remarkable humour of walking in Westminster-hall with a straw in his shoe. |
e. Bot.| 1776 J. Lee Introd. Bot. Explan. Terms 378 Culmus, a Straw, properly the Trunk of Grasses. 1796 Withering Brit. Plants II. 80 Straws round, and somewhat flattened. 1821 Sir J. E. Smith Gram. Bot. 6 Culmus, a Culm or Straw, the peculiar stem of Grasses, is leafy, cylindrical [etc.]. 1839 Lindley Introd. Bot. i. ii. 84 From the caulis, Linnæus, following the older botanists, distinguished the culmus or straw, which is the stem of Grasses. |
f. Mining. (See
quot.)
| 1860 Engl. & For. Mining Gloss., Staffs. Terms 80 Straw, a fine straw filled with powder and used as a fuse. 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 65 Straw, or strae, a fuse composed of a straw filled with gunpowder. |
g. A hollow tube (
orig. of straw or glass, now
usu. paper or plastic) through which a drink is sucked.
| 1851 London at Table iii. 52 Mississippi Punch. Let them use a glass tube or straw to sip the nectar through. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Americanisms (ed. 3) 90 Cobbler,..a drink made of wine, sugar, lemon, and pounded ice, and imbibed through a straw or other tube. 1872 ‘A. Merion’ Odd Echoes Oxf. 21 Come let the mackerel soused be brought,..The cider-cup and straws. 1883 Schele de Vere in Encycl. Amer. I. 201/1 With the various drinks invented by Americans came into use the straws—slender tubes of wheat, or even of glass—through which beverages are sucked up, or, as it is called, imbibed. 1888 Ruskin Præterita III. ii. 57, I..saw the Bishop of Oxford taught by Sir Robert Inglis to drink sherry-cobbler through a straw. 1926 ‘O. Douglas’ Proper Place xxxi. 286 She..soon had Alistair supremely happy drinking lemonade through a straw. 1926 [see soda straw s.v. soda1 9]. 1953 Dylan Thomas in Listener 17 Sept. 459/2 They gave him a bottle with a straw. 1967 R. A. Waldron Sense & Sense Devel. vi. 116 A drinking-straw is nowadays usually made of plastic. 1982 H. Engel Ransom Game viii. 45, I settled for a vanilla shake... The straw stood up unaided in..the froth. |
h. Used as a means of deciding something by chance (
lit. by choosing the shortest (or longest) from among several straws held so as to conceal one end);
phr. to draw a straw or straws, to draw a lot or lots.
| 1832 [see draw v. 34]. 1939 Wodehouse Uncle Fred in Springtime i. 13 It was the person on whom life had thrust the..task who must be considered to have drawn the short straw. 1959 R. Bradbury Day it rained Forever 47 Sundays we draw straws for who wears the suit the extra night. |
6. A small particle of straw or chaff, a ‘mote’.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt., Introd. 17 Lytles strees vel micles beames. Ibid. Matt. vii. 3 Huæt ðonne ᵹesiistu stre vel mot in eᵹo broðres ðines. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 405/33 Fistucam, strewu, eᵹlan. c 1400 Rule St. Benet ii. 5 In þi broþir ehe þu ses a stra, And noht a balke in þin aȝen. c 1407 Lydg. Reas. & Sens. 6084 Awmber..ryght myghty in werkyng..For to drawe to him strawys. 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §27 Take good hede, that the sherers of all maner of whyte corne cast not vppe theyr handes hastely, for thanne all the..strawes..flieth ouer his heed. 1639 Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 99 Amber will draw unto it any manner of strawes except of the hearb Basill. 1750 tr. Leonardus' Mirr. Stones 108 Being heated with rubbing, gagates attracts straws and chaff. |
7. a. Often used as a type of what is of trifling value or importance, as in
not to care a straw (two, three straws), and similar phrases.
| c 1290 St. Michael 151 in S. Eng. Leg. 304 Nis nouþe no man aliue þat hire couþe habbe i-wust so wel, Ne so hire i-fed and hire child þat ne costnede nouȝt a stravȝ. a 1300 Havelok 315 He let his oth al ouer-ga, Þerof ne yaf he nouth a stra. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 718 Socrates..ne counted nat thre strees Of noght that fortune koude doo. c 1400 Ywaine & Gaw. 2655 By his sar set he noght a stra. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1670 Swiche vsage is Not worþ a strawe. c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iv. liii. (1869) 201 Deth, j drede þee nouht a straw. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. xiv. 22 Thou fers fo, Thy fervent words compt I nocht a stro. 1593 Shakes. Lucr. 1021, I force not argument a straw, Since that my case is past the helpe of law. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xxix. 29 'Tis not a Straw matter whether the Main Cause be Right or Wrong. 1780 Mirror No. 103 An explanation, besides exposing me to their resentment (but that I did not value a straw), would have [etc.]. 1861 Hughes Tom Brown at Oxf. iii, Drysdale, who didn't care three straws about knowing St. Cloud. 1887 Spectator 1 Oct. 1304 The British Government..does not care one straw what religion its subjects profess. |
† b. a straw for —: an expression of
contempt.| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 362 A strawe for alle swevenes signifiaunce! c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 622 But straw vnto hir reed! wolde I [etc.]. c 1460 Play Sacram. 205 Yea yea master a strawe for talis that manot sale. 1513 Douglas æneis i. Prol. 33 Stra for thys ignorant blabring imperfyte Beside thi polyte termis redemyte. a 1529 Skelton Bouge of Court 341 Naye, strawe for tales, thou shalte not rule vs. 1549 Chaloner Erasm. Praise Folly A j b, In whiche poinct, a strawe for all these cankerd philosophers, and sages, who saie [etc.]. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 119 Back (quoth the woodcocke): Straw for the (quoth the dawe). 1598 R. Bernard tr. Terence (1607) Andria iv. ii, A straw for such as would haue vs two at debate. |
† c. Used as an exclamation,
= rubbish! nonsense!
Obs.| c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 1874 Ye straw! let be! Ibid. 5191 Straw! be he neuer so harrageous, If he & she shul dwellen in on house, Goode is he suffre. c 1520 Skelton Magnyf. 564 Tushe, a strawe! a 1529 ― E. Rummyng 535 A strawe, sayde Bele, stande vtter, For we haue egges and butter. ― Manerly Margery 5 Tully valy, strawe, let be, I say! |
d. A trifle; a frivolous ground of quarrel, a trifling difficulty.
| 1692 [J. Wilson] Vindic. Carol. i. 17 Here also he quarrels at Straws. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia vi. vii, My passions will not, just now, be irritated by straws. 1828 Carlyle Misc., Burns (1840) I. 367 Mighty events turn on a straw. 1858 Trollope Dr. Thorne xxxiii, When he spoke of the difficulties in his way, she twitted him by being overcome by straws. |
8. a. In certain proverbs, and allusive senses derived from them. (See
quots.)
| a. 1748 Richardson Clarissa VII. 12 A drowning man will catch at a straw, the Proverb well says. 1823 Scott Quentin D. xxxv, Love, like despair, catches at straws. 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Ruth xxx, That hope was the one straw that Mr. Bradshaw clung to. 1908 R. Bagot A. Cuthbert xxv. 331 He had been compelled, however, to suppress both his shame and his pride, and grasp at the straw held out to him. |
| b. 1848 Dickens Dombey ii, As the last straw breaks the laden camel's back, this piece of underground information crushed the sinking spirits of Mr. Dombey. 1874 S. Walpole Life Perceval II. vii. 260 The difference about the grant to the Prince was of course only the last straw. The load on Lord Wellesley had been long intolerable. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 865 In ordinary cases of the disease there is often some minor exciting cause which acts as a ‘last straw’. Ibid. VII. 693 Sunstroke may act as the ‘last straw’. |
| c. a 1654 J. Selden Table-Talk (1689) 31 Take a straw and throw it up into the Air, you shall see by that which way the wind is. 1799 W. Cobbett Porcupine's Works (1801) X. 161 ‘Straws’ (to make use of Callender's old hackneyed proverb) ‘Straws serve to show which way the wind blows.’ 1823 Byron Juan xiv. viii, You know or don't know that great Bacon saith ‘Fling up a straw, 'twill show the way the wind blows.’ 1835 Lytton Rienzi ii. iii, The Proven{cced}al, who well knew how to construe the wind by the direction of straws. 1846 Fraser's Mag. XXXIII. 131 This straw shews the peculiar superstitiousness of Johnson's mind. 1852 Bristed Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2) 365 One of the smallest possible straws may be taken as an indication of the direction in which the aura popularis now set. 1861 Reade Cloister & H. lvi, And such straws of speech show how blows the wind. 1915 Daily News 28 Dec. 4 Occasional tavern brawls between German and Bulgarian officers are no doubt only straws, but the lesson they point is reinforced by [etc.]. 1927 A. Adams Ranch on Beaver vii. 99 ‘As straws tell which way the wind blows,’ remarked Sargent, ‘this day's work gives us a clean line on these company cattle.’ 1939 Madge & Harrisson Britain, by Mass-Observation ii. 107 Yet through agents in the constituencies, and straws in the wind like West Leicester, came a slightly better indication of popular sentiment. 1960 C. P. Snow Affair xxv. 334 There have been other things, straws in the wind, maybe, which give reason to think that contemporary standards among a new scientific generation are in a process of decline. 1975 Language for Life (Dept. Educ. & Sci.) xii. 189 These are straws in the wind. What they indicate is the degree to which learning and the acquisition of language are interlocked. 1983 Listener 27 Jan. 3/1 As MPs have already pointed out in the debate, Captain Nick Barker of HMS Endurance had detected straws in the wind. |
9. In various phrases.
† a. to turn every straw,
leave no straw unturned: to search everywhere for something lost.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 324 He secheð hine anonriht, & to-went euerich strea uort he beo ifunden. 1575 Gammer Gurton's Needle i. iv. 12 So see in all the heaps of dust thou leave no straw vnturned. |
† b. to lay a straw: to stop, desist.
there a straw! = here I will stop.
Obs.| c 1480 Henryson Orph. & Euryd. 241 Off sik musik to wryte I do bot dote, Tharfor at this mater a stra I lay. c 1550 [G. Walker] Manif. Detect. Diceplay B ij, Well, as to that, there lay a strawe tyll anone, that the matter lede vs to speake more of it. 1568 V. Skinner tr. Gonsalvius' Sp. Inquis. 63 There they were enforced to lay a straw. 1580 G. Harvey Three Proper Lett. iii. 49 You may communicate as much..as you list,..with the two Gentlemen: but there a straw, and you loue me: not with any one else, friend or foe. a 1600 Deloney Gentle Craft ii. iii. Wks. (1912) 157 Nay soft, there lay a straw for feare of stumbling (quoth Robin). 1601 Holland Pliny ix. xxxvi. I. 258 If I should lay a straw here, and proceed no further in this discourse of Purples. |
† c. to break a straw [
= Fr. rompre la paille]: to quarrel.
Obs.| 1542 Udall tr. Erasm. Apoph. 61 b, I prophecie..that Plato and Dionysius wil ere many dayes to an ende breake a straw betwene theim. |
d. to draw, gather, pick straws: (of the eyes) to be sleepy.
| 1691 Mrs. D'Anvers Academia 36 Their Eyes, by this time all drew Straws. 1694 Motteux etc. Gentl. Jrnl. Apr. 84 It growing then towards eleven a clock, the City Ladies Eyes began to draw Straws. 1731–8 Swift Pol. Conversat. iii. Wks. 1738 VI. 344 Miss. Indeed, my Eyes draw Straws (she's almost asleep). 1796 J. Wolcot (P. Pindar) Orson & Ellen v. 125 Their eyelids did not once pick straws. 1825 J. Wilson Noctes Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 29 But would you believe it, my beloved Shepherd, my eyes are gathering straws. 1892 Illustr. Sporting & Dram. News 5 Nov. 270/2 ‘That period—probably two o'clock a.m.—when the eyes of chaperons begin to draw straws’. |
e. to have straws in one's hair (and
varr.): to be insane, eccentric, or distracted.
| 1890 ‘L. Carroll’ Nursery ‘Alice’ x. 39 That's the March Hare, with the long ears, and straws mixed up with his hair. The straws showed he was mad—I don't know why. Never twist up straws among your hair, for fear people should think you're mad!] 1923 Wodehouse Inimitable Jeeves vii. 72 When your uncle the Duke begins to feel the strain a bit and you find him in the blue drawing-room sticking straws in his hair, old Glossop is the first person you send for. 1925 ― Carry On, Jeeves! vi. 142 His [sc. a psychiatrist's] outlook on life has become so jaundiced through constant association with coves who are picking straws out of their hair. 1937 D. L. Sayers Busman's Honeymoon xviii. 346 (heading) Straws in the hair. 1962 ‘S. Woods’ Bloody Instructions ix. 100 Dennis Dowling..brought with him an atmosphere of mingled drama and insanity. Antony thought: ‘definitely straws in the hair’ as soon as he opened the door. |
10. Applied to various things shaped like a straw.
† a. pl. = jack-straws,
jack-straw 2.
Obs.| 1765 H. Walpole Let. to C'tess Suffolk 9 July, They (I mean my bones) lie in a heap over one another like the bits of ivory at the game of straws. |
b. Austral. A walking-stick insect, a phasmid.
| 1827 Hellyer in Bischoff's Van Diemen's Land (1832) 177, I caught one of those curious insects the native straw; it is, I apprehend, a nondescript. |
c. A long slender needle.
| 1862 Morrall Hist. Needle-making 39 The Straws are suited for millinery and light work, and they are often made double length, for sewing fents in Manchester. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 464 Straws..are needles of a particular description, used in hat and bonnet making. |
d. A slender kind of clay pipe.
| 1882 Worc. Exhib. Catal. iii. 28 Tobacco pipes. 10-inch Straws. |
e. cheese straw: a thin stick of pastry, containing cheese.
potato straw: see
potato n. 7.
| 1877 Cassell's Dict. Cookery 119. 1892 T. F. Garrett Encycl. Cookery I. 350. |
f. A plastic phial in which bull semen is stored for artificial insemination.
| 1966 Canad. Jrnl. Compar. Med. & Vet. Sci. XXX. 109 The use of plastic straws would..encourage volume storage of high quality semen from young sires. Ibid. 111/1 Better fertility results can be anticipated with straw packaged semen as compared with that packaged in glass ampoules. 1982 Sunday Times 12 Sept. 45/2 The firm..specialises in artificial insemination..in cattle, and expects Pickles [sc. a bull] eventually to produce 40,000 ‘straws’, or phials, of semen a year. These straws will be frozen, and sold to cattle breeders all over the world at about {pstlg}50 a time. |
III. 11. A straw hat.
| 1829 P. Egan Boxiana 2nd Ser. II. 681 Hall..went briskly into the ring, and tossed up his Dunstable straw. 1849 Theatr. Programme No. 5. 45/2 (Advt.), Charles Vyse, manufacturer of Leghorns and Straws to the British and Foreign Courts.—30 Ludgate-street. 1863 Baily's Mag. Jan. 357, I hung my saturated ‘straw’ upon a bush. 1902 R. Hichens Londoners 159 I've only brought a straw. |
IV. In Combination.
12. attrib. (passing into adj.), with sense ‘made of straw’. See also
straw hat.
| 1442 Will of R. Cottingham in Fairholt Costume II. 387 A blak stra cappe. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 83 Their houses are..layde all ouer with strawe-pallets, whereupon they doe both sit in stead of stooles, and lie in their clothes with billets vnder their heads. 1624 in Archæologia XLVIII. 148 A strowbasket. 1679 M. Rusden Further Discov. Bees 2 The keeping of Bees in Box-hives, I call by the name of Colonies, to distinguish them from those kept only in Straw-hives. 1699 Evelyn Kal. Hort., Nov. (ed. 9) 134 Cover also your most delicate Stone-fruit and Murals, skreening them with Straw-hurdles. 1707 Curios. Husb. & Gard. 257 Cover the Earth with good Straw-Mats. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxii, A straw bonnet with pink ribbons. 1871 Macduff Mem. Patmos vii. 87 Hovering around the straw-pallet of some Lazarus-beggar. |
13. Obvious combinations:
a. Simple
attrib., with the sense ‘of or pertaining to straw or straws’, as in
straw-end,
straw-fire,
straw-market,
straw-mow,
straw-pad,
straw pulp,
straw-rick,
straw-stack; designating a receptacle for straw, as
straw-barn,
straw-barton,
straw-house,
straw-loft,
straw rack.
| 1557 Tusser 100 Points Husb. xl, But serue them with haye, while thy straw stoouer last, they loue no more strawe, they had rather to fast. 1591 Sylvester Ivry 289 When his fury glowes, 'Tis but as Straw-fire. 1657 N. Billingsley Brachy-Martyrol. ii. vii. 196 How like you (John) your lodging and your fare? Willis said, Well, had I a straw-pad here. 1662 A. Cooper Stratologia vi. 52 A timerous Footman..In a Straw-mough had hid himself for fear. 1677 Miege Dict. Eng.-Fr., A Straw-house, paillier, le lieu où l'on tient la paille. 1721 Mortimer Husb. (ed. 5) I. 143 What Corn you stack must be bound up in Sheaves, that so the Ears of the Corn may be turned inward, and the Straw-ends out. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 213 Nor did he think it more dangerous than other grass, unless cattle came hungry to it out of the straw-barton. Ibid. 215 They..were foddered in the straw-house. a 1747 Holdsworth Remarks on Virgil (1768) 323 A street..formerly called La Rue de Fourrage: where the straw-market was kept. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. i. 15 The straw-barn..should be so large as to pile up the straw of two stacks when threshed. 1833 Loudon Encycl. Archit. §1142 Straw-racks are placed in the sheds. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. iv. iii, They lie in straw-lofts, in woody brakes. 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 187 Strawstacks, and haystacks, and maizestacks. 1888 Cross & Bevan Text-bk. Paper-Making vi. 101 The presse-päte system is largely adopted for straw pulp. 1891 Hardy Tess xxxii, To inquire how the advanced cows were getting on in the straw-barton. Ibid. xlvii, The old men on the rising straw-rick. 1937 E. J. Labarre Dict. Paper & Paper-Making Terms 238/2 Straw pulp is prepared by cooking straw with soda. |
b. objective, as
straw-carrier,
straw-clutching,
straw-cutter,
straw-cutting, etc.
| 1656 Collop Poesis Rediv. 64 Th' straw-gatherers of Egypt. 1790 W. H. Marshall Midland Counties II. 443 Straw-cutter, a cutter of straw, &c. into chaf. 1805 Trans. Soc. Arts XXIII. 51 He purchased a straw-chopper, that the horses corn might be mixed with straw. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. v. ix, After all that straw-burning, fire-pumping, and deluge of musketry. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 196 Straw-cutters are of very various construction. Ibid., Straw-cutting machines. 1869 Spons' Dict. Engin. i. 229 The straw-shaker [in a threshing-machine] should pass the straw at the rate of 75 to 80 ft. a-minute. 1884 J. Scott Barn Implem. (1885) 145 The ‘Straw-Elevator,’ driven in connection with the threshing-machine. 1891 C. Roberts Adrift Amer. 23 The straw carrier of the thrashing machine. 1962 L. Davidson Rose of Tibet iii. 65 Every bit of straw-clutching, every bit of hope..was followed instantly by a reaction of dismay. |
c. instrumental and parasynthetic, as
straw-bottomed,
straw-built,
straw-crowned,
straw-roofed,
straw-stuffed,
straw-thatched ppl. adjs.| 1577 Harrison England iii. i. 96/1 in Holinshed, In some places it [malt] is dryed with woode alone, or strawe alone..but of all the strawe dryed is the most excellent. 1598 Bp. Hall Sat. iv. ii. 14 So rides he mounted on the market-day Vpon a straw-stu'ft pannell, all the way. 1613 [Standish] New Direct. Planting 21 Cottages and such like Straw-thatched houses. 1667 Milton P.L. i. 773 Thir [sc. the bees'] Straw-built Cittadel. 1738 P. Whitehead Manners 4 'Midst the mad Mansions of Moor-fields, I'd be A straw-crown'd Monarch, in mock majesty. 1746 J. Warton Ode to Fancy 30 Where never human art appear'd, Nor ev'n one straw-rooft cott was rear'd. 1749 Smollett tr. Le Sage's Gil Blas (1750) II. iv. xi. 137 We quitted the hermitage, leaving..two old straw-bottomed chairs. 1750 Gray Elegy 18 The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed. 1820 Keats Cap & Bells xxix, Many as bees about a straw-capp'd hive. 1824 Campbell Theodric 501 Till reaching home, terrific omen! there The straw-laid street preluded his dispair. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xlii, Had he been inspecting a wooden statue or a straw-embowelled Guy Fawkes. 1899 Howells Ragged Lady 286 The tubes of straw-barreled Virginia cigars. |
14. a. Special comb.:
straw bail (see
quots.);
† straw-bait = straw-worm;
straw ballot = straw vote;
straw basher slang, a straw hat or boater;
straw-bed, (
a) a bed or mattress filled with straw, a paillasse; (
b)
= straw-ride a;
straw bid,
bidder U.S. (see
quot.);
straw-blond(e a., applied to hair of a pale, yellowish blond colour; also
absol., this colour;
straw-board, coarse yellow millboard made from straw pulp, used for making boxes, book-covers, etc.; also, a piece of this material;
straw bond U.S. (see
quot. and
cf. straw bail);
straw boots dial., wisps of straw tied round the feet and legs; hence as a nickname for the 7th Dragoon Guards;
straw boss orig. U.S., a subordinate or assistant foreman;
strawboy Ir. (see
quots.);
straw braid = straw-plait;
straw-bug slang, a strawberry;
† straw-burn v. trans., to fertilize (land) by burning straw upon it; hence
† straw-burning vbl. n.;
straw cat, the pampas cat (
Cent. Dict. 1891);
† straw coat, a coat trimmed with straw;
straw cotton (see
quot.);
strae-dead a. Sc. [
cf. ON. strádauða], quite dead;
straw-death,
Sc. strae- [
cf. Norw. straadaude,
Da. straad{obar}d], a natural death in one's bed;
† straw deer, an alleged name for the hare;
† straw-device, a worthless or harmless device;
straw-drain, a drain filled with straw (Webster 1828–32);
straw-driver, ? one who practises horses on a straw-ride;
straw-dry a., as dry as straw, very dry;
straw-dynamite (see
quot.);
straw embroidery (see
quot. 1882);
straw-fiddle, a xylophone in which the wooden bars are supported on rolls of twisted straw;
straw-foot: see
hay-foot;
straw-fork, a pitchfork;
straw-gold, the colour of straw;
= sense 1 d above;
straw-knife, a knife used for cutting and splitting straw;
straw-laths,
pl. the laths on which straw is fastened in thatching;
straw-like a., resembling straw;
fig. light or worthless as straw;
strawline, a light rope used to pull a heavier one into position,
esp. in
Logging;
straw-man, (
a) a figure of a man made of straw; (
b) a ‘man of straw’ (Webster 1911);
straw-mote dial., a single stalk of straw;
straw-necked a., having straw-like feathers on the neck; designating an Australian ibis (see
quot.);
straw-needle, a long thin needle used for sewing together straw braids (
Cent. Dict.);
cf. 10 c;
straw-pale a. rare—1, as pale as straw;
straw paper, paper made from straw bleached and pulped;
straw plait,
plat, a plait or braid made of straw, used for making straw hats, etc.; hence
straw-plaiter;
straw-plaiting vbl. n. and
gerund; also
concr., an article made of straw plait;
straw poll orig. U.S. = straw vote;
straw potatoes, very thinly cut potato chips;
straw ride, (
a) a track laid with straw on which horses are exercised in winter; (
b)
U.S. ‘a pleasure-ride in the country, taken in a long wagon or sleigh filled with straw, upon which the party sit’ (
Cent. Dict.);
straw ring, a ring of plaited straw used to support a round-bottomed vessel in an upright position;
straw rope, a rope made of twisted straw, used
e.g. to secure thatching; also
attrib.;
† straw-shoe, a name given to a hanger-on of the law-courts (to be known from his having a straw sticking out of his shoe) who was prepared to swear to anything wanted;
straw-splitter, one who makes over-nice distinctions, a quibbler; similarly
straw-splitting vbl. n. and ppl. a. (see
split v. 5 b and
cf. hair-splitter, -splitting);
straw-stem, a wine-glass stem pulled out of the substance of the bowl; hence, a wine-glass having such a stem (
Cent. Dict.);
straw tick U.S. [
tick n.2], a straw-filled mattress;
straw vote orig. U.S., an unofficial vote taken in order to indicate the relative strength of opposing candidates or issues;
straw wine, a luscious wine made from grapes dried or partly dried in the sun on straw;
straw wisp, a small bundle or twist of straw; also
fig.; hence
straw-wisped a., enwreathed with a straw wisp;
† straw woad, some variety of woad;
straw-work, work done in plaited straw;
straw-worm, the caddis-worm;
straw-yellow n. and a. = straw-colour, -coloured. Also
straw yard.
| 1853 N. & Q. Ser. i. VII. 86/1 *Straw bail is, I believe, a term still used by attorneys to distinguish insufficient bail from ‘justifiable’ or sufficient bail. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 455 Straw bail, worthless bail; bail given by ‘men of straw’, i.e. persons who pretend to the possession of property, but have none. |
| 1932 *Straw ballot [see straw poll below]. 1967 Canad. Ann. Rev. 1966 63 RIN..polled 27·7 per cent of the vote in a Université de Montréal straw ballot. |
| 1901 *Straw basher [see basher2]. 1931 A. J. Cronin Hatter's Castle ii. xii. 421 A stiff, board-like straw-basher. |
| 1632 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. xv. Notes 520 So Cod-bates, and *Straw-bates which ly vnder water [turn] into May-flies. |
| 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 247/1 Culcita stramentitia,..a *straw bed, or pad of straw. 1671 Woodhead St. Teresa ii. 263 The Straw-bed, the ordinary Bed of the Discalced. 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. i. ix. 352/1 Some [colts] being at once physicked, and exercised afterwards upon straw-beds, &c. |
| 1889 Farmer Americanisms, *Straw bid, a worthless bid; one not intended to be taken up. |
| 1928 E. O'Neill Strange Interlude i. 25 Her *straw-blond hair, framing her sunburned face, is bobbed. 1973 A. Hunter Gently French v. 47 Her hair was a warm straw blonde. |
| 1850 Rep. Commissioner Patents 1849 (U.S. Patent Office) 305 [The] said process is peculiar to the use of *strawboard. 1862 Harper's Mag. June 135/1 He was making a personal examination of straw-board shoes provided for those who have gone to be soldiers. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Straw-board. 1881 Greener Gun 409 In the said slots were placed sheets of straw-board of uniform texture and thickness. 1885 G. F. Green in Rattray & Mill Forestry & Forest Products xviii. 474 Wood-pulp boards, straw-boards, and mill-boards are sometimes referred to as ‘paste-boards’. 1956 H. Williamson Methods Bk. Design xix. 321 Millboards are harder and more solid than strawboards. |
| 1889 Century Dict. s.v. Bond, *Straw bond, a bond upon which either fictitious names or the names of persons unable to pay the sum guaranteed are written as names of sureties. |
| 1715 tr. C'tess D'Anois' Wks. 493 Admiral Sharp-Cap dispatcht away John Prattle-Box, Courier in Ordinary of the Closet, with his *Straw-Boots [botté de paille] to inform the King. 1832 D. Vedder Orcadian Sk. Poems, etc. (1878) 298 His legs were completely enveloped in twisted straw, generally known by the name of ‘strae boots’. 1879 All the Year Round 5 Apr. 370/1 The Seventh [Dragoon Guards] has been known indifferently as the Black Horse,..and as the Virgin Mary's Guard; but its more popular pseudonym is the Straw Boots. |
| 1894 W. H. Carwardine Pullman Strike ix. 117 These employees..had been so ground between the upper millstone of ‘low wages’ and the nether millstone of ‘high rents’, the continued oppression of the ‘*straw bosses’, [etc.]. 1915 S. Lewis Trail of Hawk ii. xiii. 132 He had laughed away the straw boss who tried to make him go ask for a left-handed monkey-wrench. 1945 ‘N. Shute’ Most Secret viii. 172 Them Frenchies won't work right without they have a straw-boss. 1976 L. St. Clair Fortune in Death x. 98 Dimestores, cafeterias, moving to a new job..every time some greasy straw boss ran his hand up my skirt. |
| 1894 C. R. Browne in Proc. R. Irish Acad. 3rd Ser. III. 352 Mr. Michael Lavelle..informs me that he has heard that sometimes, on the occasion of a wedding, ‘*straw-boys’ go round with long straw masks on, and if they do not get either money or liquor will threaten to break the windows and furniture of the house. 1937 C. M. Arensberg Irish Countryman iii. 106 The ‘strawboys’—privileged masqueraded figures whose mock-dangerous invasion of the wedding feast has been dignified to represent a last remnant of a primeval bride-capture. 1968 A. Gailey in Folk Life VI. 90 In parts of Fermanagh there survive even to the present day traces of an old ceremony performed by groups of..young men, disguised latterly in..straw masks.., but in former times..wearing complete suits of straw. They interrupted the festivities following the solemnisation of marriages in the country districts, and were known simply as the Strawboys. |
| 1864 Harper's Mag. Oct. 578/2 He laid all kinds of evil results at the door of *straw braid. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. 2417/1 The Leghorn, or Italian straw-braid. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 463/2 Straw Braids are made in very long lengths, and are sewn together by means of long thin Needles, called Straws. |
| 1908 A. Huxley Let. 29 June (1969) 28 Latest News Stop Press *Strawbugs for tea. 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 155 These syllables [sc. -bug, -gog, etc.] are used..to replace the second half of a word, as: newbug, rasbug, strawbug, goosegog, and wellygogs. |
| 1799 A. Young Agric. Lincoln. 267 He *straw-burnt a piece in the middle of a field preparing for turnips. |
| Ibid. 268 This *straw-burning husbandry I found again at Belesby. |
| 1783 European Mag. Mar. 190/1 Paillasses, or *straw-coats, are very much in use. |
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 464 *Straw Cotton..is a wiry kind of thread, starched and stiff,..exclusively made for use in the manufacture of straw goods. |
| 1820 Glenfergus xviii. II. 218 Gin ye dinna haste ye, doakter,..it may be *strae dead afore ye come on till 't. |
| 1785 Burns Dr. Hornbook xxv, Whare I kill'd ane, a fair *strae-death, By loss o' blood, or want o' breath. 1865 Kingsley Herew. iv, Dead is he, a bed-death,..A straw-death, a cow's-death. 1868 G. Macdonald R. Falconer I. xxiii. 305 She's gane, an' no by a fair strae-deith (death on one's own straw) either. |
| a 1325 Names of Hare in Rel. Ant. I. 133 The *strauder, the lekere. |
| 1599 B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. iii. ii. (1601) F 1 b, As if I knew not how to entertaine These *Straw-deu ses. |
| 1828 Sporting Mag. XXII. 183 Mr. Darvill..commenced life as a *straw-driver in a country racing stable. |
| 1951 W. de la Mare Winged Chariot 47 Unlike the plant called ‘everlasting’, this [sc. poetry] Never *straw-dry, sapless, or sterile is. 1963 Glamour Nov. 23 Even hair that's straw-dry turns silky. |
| 1889 Cundill Dict. Explosives 61 *Straw Dynamite is a mixture of nitro-glycerine with nitro-cellulose made from straw. |
| 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 4432 *Straw embroidery. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 464 Straw Embroidery..consists in tacking upon black Brussels silk net or yellow coloured net, leaves, flowers, corn, butterflies, &c. that are stamped out of straw, and connecting these with thick lines made of yellow filoselle. |
| 1867 Tyndall Sound iv. 137 Instead of using the cord, the bars may rest at their nodes on cylinders of twisted straw; hence the name *straw-fiddle sometimes applied to this instrument. |
| 1573–80 Tusser Husb. (1878) 35 Flaile, *strawforke and rake. 1858 Slight & Burn Farm Implem. 479 The straw-fork..has rather longer prongs. |
| 1963 A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 3 Here are fine expenses of pasture, turning to *straw-gold in summer. 1977 J. Aiken Last Movement i. 20 Her hair had been..a pale Scottish straw-gold. |
| 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 6527 Chaff machine knives, and *straw knives. |
| 1391 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 107 Et in cc *stralates [printed stralanes] emp. pro domo in tenura Joh. Knygth, 16d. 1433–4 in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees) 54 In m.ccc strelattes emptis pro grangia decimali ibidem reparanda, 6s. 6d. 1485 Nottingham Rec. III. 231, vij. bonches of stree lattes. |
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. ii. 78 He loudly pleads The *straw-like trifles, on life's common stream. 1848 Gould Birds Australia VI. Pl. 45 The shafts of the feathers are produced into long lanceolate straw-like and straw-coloured processes. |
| 1956 Amer. Speech XXXI. 152 *Strawline,..a small⁓size wire rope which hauls the heavy logging cables into position. 1975 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 22 June 7/4 A strawline was taken across the river by boat, then each cable was pulled to the other side by the horses. |
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 567 A scarre-crowe to make them afraide, as wee vse to deale with little children and with birdes by puppets and *strawe-men. 1890 Frazer Golden Bough II. 247 Sometimes a straw man was burned in the ‘hut’. 1896 L. T. Hobhouse Theory of Knowl. 59 The straw man was easily enough knocked over by the critic who set him up. 1934 A. Woollcott While Rome Burns 76, I have often challenged one of these straw-man authorities. 1946 Koestler Thieves in Night 328 The authorities..only got the Rumanian captain and his crew, who couldn't give away much as all their dealings had been with straw men under assumed names. 1981 ‘M. Hebden’ Pel is Puzzled xviii. 180 He seemed active enough, but there seemed an awful lot lacking in him... Was he really just a straw man? |
| 1747 *Straw-Motes [see mote n.1 4]. 1874 Hardy Far from Madding Crowd lii, Then Gabe brought her some of the new cider, and she must needs go drinking it through a straw-mote. |
| 1848 Gould Birds Australia VI. Pl. 45 Geronticus [or Carphibis] spinicollis. *Straw-necked Ibis. |
| 1922 W. B. Yeats Seven Poems 13 Under the shadow of stupid *straw-pale locks. |
| 1854 Househ. Words IX. 86/2 A secret mode of making *straw-paper. 1862 C. M. Yonge C'tess Kate i, Forgetting everything in the interest of her drawing on a large sheet of straw paper. |
| 1800 Repert. Arts etc. (1801) XV. 19 A new and improved Manufacture of *Straw-Plat, made of split Straw. 1842 S. C. Hall Ireland II. 164 The manufacture of straw-plait is to be found in every house. |
| 1846 Mrs. Gore Eng. Char. (1852) 68 The hereditary race of *straw-plaiters. |
| 1834 M{supc}Culloch Dict. Comm. (1844) s.v. Hats, The wives and daughters of the farmers used to plait straw for making their own bonnets, before *straw-plaiting became established as a manufacture. 1849 Lytton Caxtons ii. ii, He would stand an hour at a cottage door, admiring the little girls who were straw-platting. 1862 Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit. II. No. 4849 Straw plaitings, straw hats and bonnets. |
| 1932 C. E. Robinson Straw Votes iv. 52 The newspaper or magazine conducting a *straw poll by the ballot-in-the-paper method prints a straw ballot in the publication for a certain period of time before an election. 1944 Chicago Tribune 26 Oct. 12/2 (heading). New deal area lifts F.D.R. in N.Y. straw poll. 1958 Spectator 6 June 722/1 In my own straw poll I found two electors who were going to vote Liberal for the first time. 1978 Nature 6 Apr. 484/3 A straw poll taken three weeks ago at a meeting of faculty professors..voted 23 to 3 against approving the proposal. |
| 1904 C. H. Senn New Cent. Cookery Bk. (rev. ed.) 596 Pommes Pailles (*Straw Potatoes). 1959 Times 6 Apr. 13/5 Serve with sweet corn and straw potatoes. |
| 1856 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports ii. i. x. 357/1 The *straw-ride is generally made by using the long litter of the stable laid down round a large paddock. 1881 P. B. Du Chaillu Land Midn. Sun II. 434 A custom which reminded me of the ‘straw ride’ parties common in the rural districts of the United States. 1895 Outing XXVI. 408/1 Invitations to sailing parties, straw rides or picnics. |
| 1641 French Distill. i. (1651) 41 The lower gourd or recipient set upon *straw-rings. |
| 1763 ‘Theoph. Insulanus’ Second Sight 9 As he was going out of his house on a morning, he put on *straw-rope garters instead of those he formerly used. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. III. vii. iii, See Pichegru's soldiers, this hard winter,..in their ‘straw-rope shoes and cloaks of bast⁓mat’. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 11 Assorted straw..is put..thick above the turnips for thatch, and kept down by means of straw-ropes. |
| 1826 Q. Rev. XXXIII. 344 We have all heard of a race of men, who used in former days to ply about our own courts of law, and who, from their manner of making known their occupation, were recognized by the name of *Straw-shoes. An advocate or lawyer, who wanted a convenient witness, knew by these signs where to meet with one,..‘Then come into court and swear it?’ And Straw-shoe went into the court and swore it. |
| 1844 Smyth Cycle Celestial Obj. I. 384 note, A certain straight-laced *straw-splitter objects to the terms rising and setting, as being highly improper when applied to fixed points. |
| 1828 Pusey Hist. Enq. i. 16 The endless *straw-splittings of the schoolmen. Ibid. 35 Abounding..in straw-splitting distinctions. 1881 Morley Cobden xxxi. II. 323 They were wasting time in mere strawsplitting. |
| 1854 G. W. Curtis Potiphar Papers ii. (1866) 55 A dozen of the delicately-engraved *straw-stems that stood upon the waiter. |
| 1931 Amer. Speech VII. 169 Most of these [mattresses and ticks] were filled with corn husks, straw or hay, and were called ‘husk ticks’, ‘hay mattresses’, and ‘*straw ticks’. 1949 L. I. Wilder Long Winter viii. 68 They must fill the straw ticks with hay, because there was no straw in this new country. 1954 W. Faulkner Fable 195 He was sleeping on a straw tick in the lodge room over the store. |
| 1866 Cleveland (Ohio) Leader 6 Oct. 4/2 A *straw vote taken on a Toledo train yesterday resulted as follows; A. Johnson 12; Congress, 47. 1887 San Francisco Thunderbolt 4 Nov. 1. The straw vote taken at the ‘Report’ office is unreliable. 1906 Daily Chron. 24 Oct. 4/5 ‘Straw’ votes, which have recently been taken in the New York State campaign, indicate that Mr. Hearst will be badly beaten. 1977 R. Holland Self & Social Context v. 175 A special session on legal registration produced a straw vote which revealed an even balance of viewpoint. |
| 1824 A. Henderson Hist. Anc. & Mod. Wines 172 The liquor..receives the name of *straw wine (vin de paille). 1833 Redding Mod. Wines vii. 208 Straw wines are made in Franconia. |
| 1508 Dunbar Flyting 213 *Stra wispis hingis owt. a 1678 in Evelyn's Pomona 407 Instead of the straw-wisp, a Basket may be fitted, which with a little straw within will keep the Fruit in better order. a 1761 [S. Haliburton & Hepburn] Mem. Magopico v. (ed. 2) 18 The man is..a plain undesigning nose o' wax, a cat's paw, a straw wisp. |
| 1861 Mrs. H. Wood East Lynne i. iv, In spite of his smock frock, his *straw-wisped hat, and his false whiskers,..she knew him for her brother. 1612 Sc. Bk. Customs in Halyburton's Ledger (1867) 332 Woad called Iland grene woad or stra woad the tun 1{supc}xx li. |
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary 1646 (Milan), They have curious *straw worke among the nunns, even to admiration. 1798 Monthly Mag. June 429 The principal manufacture is straw-work..which is confined to about six or eight miles round Dunstable. 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework 463 Cabinets, boxes, and cardcases..decorated with a covering of coloured Straw-work, much resembling Mosaic work. |
| 1653 Walton Angler xii. 232 There is also another Cadis called by some a *Straw-worm. |
| 1796 Kirwan Elem. Min. (ed. 2) I. 29 *Straw yellow. 1831 Brewster Nat. Magic xxxiv. (1833) 285 The finest varieties..transmit a straw-yellow tint. 1843 Portlock Geol. 214 From yellowish-brown to rich straw yellow. |
b. In book-names of certain moths, with reference to their colour (see
quots.).
| 1775 M. Harris Engl. Lepidoptera 45 Phalæna..310 Straw, clouded. 1819 G. Samouelle Entomol. Compend. 427 Botys cespitalis. The Straw-barred. 1832 Rennie Butterfl. & Moths 49 The Straw Underwing..appears about June. Ibid. 116 The Straw Belle. Ibid. 188 The Dingy Straw (Depressaria costosa). Ibid. 193 The Dingy Straw (Recurvaria Silacella). 1869 E. Newman Brit. Moths 98 The Straw Belle (Aspilates gilvaria). Ibid. 295 The Straw Under-wing (Cerigo Cytherea). |
▪ II. † straw, n.2 Obs. Apparently some foreign denomination of weight.
| 1540 Act. 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 §2 [Freight from Denmark] Item for everie strawe of wax of xvj C. waight xiiij s. |
▪ III. straw, a. (
strɔː)
Short for
straw-coloured.
| 1842 Penny Cycl. XXIII. 3/2 The annexed are the tempering heats, colours, and uses of steel of different degrees of hardness:—430° Fah., very faint yellow; for lancets. 450° pale straw; razors and surgeons' instruments. 1862 M. Brown Catal. Postage Stamps (ed. 2) 21 Letters in each corner of stamp. 3 d. pink, 4 d. vermilion, 9 d. straw. |
▪ IV. straw, v.1 (
strɔː)
Pa. tense and
pa. pple. strawed (
rarely pa. pple. strawn).
Obs. exc. arch. Also 4
strauwe.
[App. repr. a dial. pronunciation (with rising diphthong) of OE. streawian var. of streowian strew v.] = strew v.
1. trans. To scatter, spread loosely; to scatter (rushes, straw, flowers, etc.) on the ground or floor, or over the surface of something; to scatter or sprinkle (something in powder) over a surface.
| c 1200 Ormin 8193 To strawwenn gode gresess þær, Þatt stunnkenn swiþe swete. a 1300 Floriz & Bl. (Camb. MS) 436 Cupen he let fulle of flures, To strawen in þe maidenes bures. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xlii. (Agatha) 254 Þane bad he Schellis & brynnand cole straw in þe floure. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 207 (Fairf.), I bad hem strawen [v.rr. strawe, strowe(n] floures on my bed. c 1400 Destr. Troy 12145 Hire blod all aboute aboue hit was sched, And strawet in þe strete, strenklit full þik. c 1430 Two Cookery-bks. i. 23 Take pouder Pepir, & Canelle, & straw þer-on. c 1440 Sir Eglam. 376 Bryght helmes he fonde strawed wyde, As men of armys had loste ther pryde. c 1449 Pecock Repr. ii. xiv. 230 Now sche berith aischis out, now sche strawith rischis in the halle. 1483 Caxton Golden Leg. 417/3 Thenne Julyan..dyd doo Strawe Salte on the body. 1526 Tindale Matt. xxi. 8 Other cut doune braunches from the trees, and strawed [so 1611; 1881 Revised spread; Gr. ἐστρώννυον] them in the waye. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. xxvii. 354 Aloë, made into powder & strawen vpon newe blooddy woundes, stoppeth the blood, and healeth the wounde. 1594 Gd. Huswifes Handmaid Kitchin 22 b, Take great Raisons and minse them small, and plucke out the kernels, and strawe them in the bottome of your pie. 1657 W. Coles Adam in Eden cxlix, The affected place being bathed with the decoction thereof, and the powder strawed on afterwards. 1725 Bourne Antiq. Vulg. iv. 26 That other Custom of strawing Flowers upon the Graves of their departed Friends, is also derived from a Custom of the ancient Church. 1765 A. Dickson Treat. Agric. iii. (ed. 2) 379 The strawing small chaff..on the bottom of the pigeon⁓house, is very proper. 1828 Carr Craven Gloss., Straw, to spread grass, when mown to strew. 1896 Kipling Seven Seas 8 We have strawed our best..To the shark and the sheering gull. |
† b. With
abroad.
Obs.| 1549 Coverdale etc. Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. i. 1–7 In stedde of the sure doctrine of Christ, they strawe abrode vayne smokes & mystes of Jewishe questions. 1576 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 3) 990/2 After that..the Cardinall, vnderstode these bookes of the Beggars supplication..to be strawne abroade in the streetes of London,..the sayd Cardinall [etc.]. 1579–80 North Plutarch, Solon (1595) 106 Some say, the ashes of his body were after his death strawed abroade through the Ile of Salamina. |
c. absol. (The chief modern use, in allusion to
Matt. xxv. 24.)
| 1526 Tindale Matt. xxv. 24 Which..gadderest where thou strawedst not [1611 where thou hast not strawed (1880 Revised where thou didst not scatter); Gr. διεσκόρπισας]. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. cxii. viii, He gives where needs, nay rather straweth, His justice never ending. 1861 Lowell Washers of Shroud 26 Still men and nations reap as they have strawn. 1914 J. K. Graham Anno Dom. 76 The soul..anticipates an epoch of halcyon splendour when it shall gather where it has strawed. |
2. To cover (the ground, a floor, etc.) with something loosely scattered,
e.g. rushes, straw, flowers. Now
rare or
Obs.| 13.. K. Alis. 1026 With rose, and swete flores, Was strawed [Laud MS. ystrewed] halles, and bouris. c 1350 Will. Palerne 1617 Eche a strete was striked & strawed wiþ floures. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2690 Al þe feldes þoȝte y-strawed of dede men al aboute. c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 606 Though thou..strawe hir cage faire and softe as silk. c 1450 Mirk's Festial 39 Hys hall was yche day of þe ȝere new strawed, yn somer wyth grene rosches, and yn wyntyr wyth clen hay. 1544 T. Phaer Pestilence (1553) L vi, It is good in hote time, to straw y⊇ chamber ful of willow leues and other fresh boughes. 1572 L. Mascall Plant. & Graff. (1592) 64 The blacke Figges..being dried in the Sunne, and then laied in a vessell in beddes one by an other, & then sprinkled or strawed all ouer, euerie laie with fine Meale. 1587 T. Newton Herbal for Bible xvi. 94 With the which [sedge] many in this Countrie do vse in Sommer time to strawe their Parlours, and Churches. 1591 Savile Tacitus, Hist. iv. i. 169 The streetes were strawed with dead carcases. 1596 Danett tr. Comines (1614) 304 And gather vp the launces wherewith the place lay strawed. 1631 Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 41 Which..hath beene sprinkled with the bloud..and strawne with the ashes, of those blessed Saints. 1650 T. B[ayly] Worcester's Apoph. 23 We had..laid some loose boards, and strawed the new made floar with rushes. |
| fig. 1606 Dekker Seven Sins Lond. Wks. (Grosart) II. 30 Their seruants, wiues and children strawing the way before him with curses. 1676 Baker in Rigaud Corr. Sci. Men (1841) II. 2 You have most ingeniously strawed the way for its invention. |
† 3. To make or lay (a bed). Also
absol. Obs.| 13.. St. Gregory (Vernon MS.) 574 Þe wyf strauwede [Cotton MS. (older text) strowiþ] him ful soft Þer he in Chaumbre schulde leyn. 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus iii. v. R j b, Commaunde the seruantes to make or straw a bedde. Ibid., Cause..a bryde bed to be strawen for vs. |
4. To be strewn or spread upon.
| 1593 Extracts Munic. Acc. Newcastle (1848) 29 Paide for earbes and rushes which strawde the chapple, 2s. 1896 A. E. Housman Shropshire Lad iv, And the tent of night in tatters Straws the sky-pavilioned land. 1898 Wollocombe From Morn till Eve i. 8 The green rushes that strawed the hall. |
▪ V. straw, v.2 (
strɔː)
Also 5
strowe.
[f. straw n.1] 1. trans. To supply with straw.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 480/2 Strowyn, or lyteryn, stramino. c 1481 Caxton Dialogues ix. 49 Gyue heye to the hors, And strawe them well. [Fr. et les estraines bien.] 1483 ― Gold. Leg. 44/1 And brought hym in and strowed his cameles and gaf them chaff and heye. |
2. intr. (
slang.) See
quot.| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 215 The practice of what is called ‘strawing’, or selling straws in the street, and giving away with them something..forbidden to be sold,—as indecent papers [etc.]. |
Hence
strawed ppl. a.;
ˈstrawing vbl. n.| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 239, I have already alluded to ‘strawing’. 1887 J. J. Hissey Holiday on Road 103 Farmsteads..with..their deeply strawed yards. |