straw

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see also: Straw

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Pronunciation

• (British) IPA: /stɹɔː/
• (America) IPA: /stɹɔ/
• (cot-caught) IPA: /stɹɑ/

Noun

straw

1. (countable) A dried stalk of a cereal plant.
2. (uncountable) Such dried stalks considered collectively.
3. (countable) A drinking straw.
4. A pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.

    

5. (figurative) Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing.
   • 1889, Robin Hood and the Tanner, Francis James Child (editor), The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume 3, page 138 ↗:

     ‘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.’

   • 1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers:

     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.

   • 1881, Robert Louis Stevenson, Virginibus Puerisque:

     To be deeply interested in the accidents of our existence, to enjoy keenly the mixed texture of human experience, rather leads a man to disregard precautions, and risk his neck against a straw.

Translations

• French: paille, fétu
• German: Halm, Strohhalm
• Italian: festuca, pagliuzza
• Portuguese: palha
• Russian: соло́мина
• Spanish: paja

Translations

• French: paille
• German: Stroh
• Italian: paglia
• Portuguese: palha
• Russian: соло́ма
• Spanish: paja

Translations

• French: jaune paille
• German: strohfarben, strohgelb
• Italian: paglia
• Spanish: pajizo, pajiza

Adjective

straw (not comparable)

1. Made of straw.

   Synonyms: strawen

   straw hat

2. Of a pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
3. (figurative) 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.

Translations

• German: Stroh-
• Russian: соло́менный

Translations

• French: paille
• German: strohfarben, (of hair) strohblond
• Russian: соло́менный
• Spanish: pajizo, pajiza

Verb

straw (straws, present participle strawing; past and past participle strawed)

1. To lay straw around plants to protect them from frost.
2. (obsolete, slang) To sell straws on the streets in order to cover the giving to the purchaser of things usually banned, such as pornography.

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Straw

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Proper noun

1. Surname

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