strawy, a.
(ˈstrɔːɪ)
Also 8–9 strawey.
[f. straw n.1 + -y.]
1. Consisting of, of the nature of, full of straw.
| 1552 Huloet, Strawye, or of strawe, stramineus. 1557 Tottel's Misc. (Arb.) 268 Some birdes can eate the strawie corne, And flee the lime the fowlers set. 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. vii. 8 A strawie stalke. 1664 Boyle Exper. Colours iii. 34 The Lateral and Strawy parts [of ripe corn]. 1786 Abercrombie Gard. Assist. 19 Having some strawey mulchy dung lay it on the ground over the roots. 1805 R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. II. 604 The strawy litter from the fold-yard. 1854 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XV. i. 15 The hay is coarse and strawy. 1881 E. A. Ormerod Man. Injur. Insects 148 Any long strawy lumps left on the surface will shelter the fly. |
2. Made with straw; filled, thatched, or strewed with straw.
| 1568 T. Howell Arb. Amitie (1879) 65 The yoked Oxe doth smell his strawie stall. a 1593 Marlowe Ovid's Elegies ii. ix. 18 Rome if her strength the huge world had not fild, With strawie cabins now her courts should build. 1610 G. Fletcher Christ's Vict. i. lxxxii, The strawy tent, Whear gold, to make their Prince a crowne, they all present. 1736 W. Thompson Nativity 28 The strawy Shed, Where Mary, Queen of Heaven, in humbless Lay. 1859 E. Capern Ballads & Songs 110 Swaddled in a strawy bed, Lies the babe of Bethlehem. 1860 Dickens Uncomm. Trav. xii, I departed from Dullborough in the strawy arms of Timpson's Blue-Eyed Maid [a coach]. |
3. Resembling straw in texture, colour, etc.
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 84 A yellowish flower, of a dry strawy consistence. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 93 The water..acquires a yellowish tinge, and a strawy smell. 1879 ‘Aliph Cheem’ (Yeldham) Lays of Ind (ed. 6) 105 You'll see him turn a strawy hue. |
4. fig. Light, empty, or worthless as straw.
| 1583 Fulke Def. Answ. Pref. 13 Luther..sayth, the epistle of Iames in comparison of these, is strawye, or like straw. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. v. v. 24 (Qo.) And there the strawy Greekes ripe for his edge Fall downe before him, like a mowers swath. 1641 Milton Animadv. 32 The iron, the brasse, and the clay of those muddy and strawy ages that follow. 1662 J. Chandler Van Helmont's Oriat. 76 There⁓fore by a strawie argument, the Maxim of the Schooles falls to the ground. 1957 T. Hughes Hawk in Rain 20 With love so like fire they dared not Let it out into strawy small talk. |