Straw

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Straw, v. t. 

 To spread or scatter. See Strew, and Strow.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

Straw, n. [OE. straw, stre, stree, AS. streáw, from the root of E. strew; akin to OFries. strē, D. stroo, G. stroh, OHG. strō, Icel. strā, Dan. straa, Sw. strå. √166. See Strew.].

•  A stalk or stem of certain species of grain, pulse, etc., especially of wheat, rye, oats, barley, more rarely of buckwheat, beans, and pease.  [1913 Webster]
•  The gathered and thrashed stalks of certain species of grain, etc.; as, a bundle, or a load, of rye straw.  [1913 Webster]
•  Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing; a mere trifle.  [1913 Webster]

  " Straw is often used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, straw-built, straw-crowned, straw-roofed, straw-stuffed, and the like."  [1913 Webster]

  "I set not a straw by thy dreamings."  [1913 Webster]

Man of straw, an effigy formed by stuffing the garments of a man with straw; hence, a fictitious person; an irresponsible person; a puppet.<-- now usu. straw man, as in set up a straw man; -- used in disputation. Typically, one party accuses an opponent of setting up a straw man, meaning that the opponent is distorting his true opinion in order to make it look absurd. --> -- Straw bail, worthless bail, as being given by irresponsible persons. [Colloq. U.S.] -- Straw bid, a worthless bid; a bid for a contract which the bidder is unable or unwilling to fulfill. [Colloq. U.S.] -- Straw cat (Zoöl.), the pampas cat. -- Straw color, the color of dry straw, being a delicate yellow. -- Straw drain, a drain filled with straw. -- Straw plait, or Straw plat, a strip formed by plaiting straws, used for making hats, bonnets, etc. -- To be in the straw, to be brought to bed, as a pregnant woman. [Slang]<-- archaic? Similar is "a roll in the hay" -->

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Straw, n.
1 dry cut stalks of grain for use as fodder or as material for thatching, packing, making hats, etc.
2 a single stalk or piece of straw.
3 a thin hollow paper or plastic tube for sucking drink from a glass etc.
4 an insignificant thing (not worth a straw).
5 the pale yellow colour of straw.
6 a straw hat.

Idiom

catch (or grasp) at a straw resort to an utterly inadequate expedient in desperation, like a person drowning. straw boss US an assistant foreman. straw-colour pale yellow. straw-coloured of pale yellow. straw in the wind a slight hint of future developments. straw vote (or poll) an unofficial ballot as a test of opinion. straw-worm a caddis-worm.

Derivative

strawy adj.

Etymology

OE streaw f. Gmc, rel. to STREW

THESAURUS

Straw

a continental, a curse, a damn, a darn, a hoot, adjutage, afterglow, afterimage, air, anthrophore, aureate, auric, axis, bagatelle, balance, barley, bauble, bean, beige, bestrew, bibelot, bird seed, bit, bole, bran, brass farthing, broadcast, bubble, buff, buff-yellow, butt, butt end, button, canary, canary-yellow, candle ends, cane, carpophore, cat food, catheter, caudex, caulicle, caulis, cent, chaff, chicken feed, chip, chop, citron, citron-yellow, cobweb, cork, corn, cream, creamy, culm, curio, debris, detritus, disseminate, dog food, down, drainpipe, dust, eatage, ecru, efflux tube, end, ensilage, ether, fag end, fairy, fallow, farce, farthing, feather, feed, fig, filings, fire hose, flaxen, fleabite, flue, flue pipe, fluff, foam, fodder, folderol, footstalk, forage, fossil, fribble, frippery, froth, funicule, funiculus, funnel, fuzz, garden hose, gas pipe, gaud, gewgaw, gilded, gilt, gimcrack, gold, gold-colored, golden, gossamer, grain, hair, halfpenny, haulm, hay, hill of beans, holdover, hose, hosepipe, husks, jest, joke, kickshaw, knickknack, knickknackery, leafstalk, leavings, leftovers, lemon, lemon-yellow, luteolous, lutescent, mash, meal, minikin, mockery, molehill, mote, nipple, oats, ocherish, ocherous, ochery, ochreous, ochroid, ochrous, ochry, odds and ends, offscourings, or, organ pipe, orts, parings, pasturage, pasture, pedicel, peduncle, peppercorn, pet food, petiole, petiolule, petiolus, picayune, pin, pinch of snuff, pinprick, pipe, pipeline, pipette, piping, primrose, primrose-colored, primrose-yellow, provender, rags, rap, red cent, reed, reed pipe, refuse, relics, remainder, remains, remnant, residue, residuum, rest, roach, row of pins, rubbish, ruins, rump, rush, saffron, saffron-colored, saffron-yellow, sallow, sand-colored, sandy, sawdust, scatter, scourings, scraps, scratch, scratch feed, seedstalk, shadow, shavings, shit, siamese, siamese connection, silage, siphon, slops, snap, sneeshing, snorkel, soil pipe, sou, sow, spear, spire, sponge, spume, stalk, standpipe, steam pipe, stem, stipe, stock, straw-colored, stubble, stump, survival, sweepings, swill, tap, thistledown, tigella, toy, trace, trifle, trinket, tube, tubing, tubulation, tubule, tubulet, tubulure, tuppence, two cents, twopence, vestige, waste, waste pipe, water pipe, wheat, whim-wham, xanthic, xanthous, yellow, yellowish

ROGET THESAURUS

Straw

Unimportance

N unimportance, insignificance, nothingness, immateriality, triviality, levity, frivolity, paltriness, poverty, smallness, vanity, matter of indifference, no object, nothing, nothing to signify, nothing worth speaking of, nothing particular, nothing to boast of, nothing to speak of, small matter, no great matter, trifling matter, mere joke, mere nothing, hardly anything, scarcely anything, nonentity, small beer, cipher, no great shakes, peu de chose, child's play, kinderspiel, toy, plaything, popgun, paper pellet, gimcrack, gewgaw, bauble, trinket, bagatelle, Rickshaw, knickknack, whim-wham, trifle, trifles light as air, yankee notions, trumpery, trash, rubbish, stuff, fatras, frippery, leather or prunello, chaff, drug, froth bubble smoke, cobweb, weed, refuse, scum, joke, jest, snap of the fingers, fudge, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end, pack of nonsense, mere farce, straw, pin, fig, button, rush, bulrush, feather, halfpenny, farthing, brass farthing, doit, peppercorn, jot, rap, pinch of snuff, old son, cent, mill, picayune, pistareen, red cent, minutiae, details, minor details, small fry, dust in the balance, feather in the scale, drop in the ocean, flea-bite, molehill, nine days' wonder, ridiculus mus, flash in the pan, much ado about nothing, unimportant, of little account, of small account, of no account, of little importance, of no importance, immaterial, unessential, nonessential, indifferent, subordinate, mediocre, passable, fair, respectable, tolerable, commonplace, uneventful, mere, common, ordinary, inconsiderable, so-so, insignificant, inappreciable, trifling, trivial, slight, slender, light, flimsy, frothy, idle, puerile, airy, shallow, weak, powerless, frivolous, petty, niggling, piddling, peddling, fribble, inane, ridiculous, farcical, finical, finikin, fiddle-faddle, fingle-fangle, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, milk and water, poor, paltry, pitiful, contemptible, sorry, mean, meager, shabby, miserable, wretched, vile, scrubby, scrannel, weedy, niggardly, scurvy, putid, beggarly, worthless, twopennyhalfpenny, cheap, trashy, catchpenny, gimcrack, trumpery, one- horse, not worth the pains, not worth while, not worth mentioning, not worth speaking of, not worth a thought, not worth a curse, not worth a straw, beneath notice, unworthy of notice, beneath regard, unworthy of regard, beneath consideration, unworthy of consideration, de lana caprina, vain, slightly, rather, somewhat, pretty well, tolerably, for aught one cares, Int, no matter!, pish!, tush!, tut!, pshaw!, pugh!, pooh, pooh-pooh!, fudge!, bosh!, humbug!, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end!, fiddlededee!, never mind!, n'importe!, what signifies it, what boots it, what of it, what of that, what matter, what's the odds, a fig for', stuff!, nonsense!, stuff and nonsense, magno conatu magnas nugas, le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, it matters not, it does not signify, it is of no consequence, it is of no importance, elephantus non capit murem, tempete dans un verre d'eau.

Dispersion

VB disperse, scatter, sow, broadcast, disseminate, diffuse, shed, spread, bestrew, overspread, dispense, disband, disembody, dismember, distribute, apportion, blow off, let out, dispel, cast forth, draught off, strew, straw, strow, ted, spirtle, cast, sprinkle, issue, deal out, retail, utter, resperse, intersperse, set abroach, circumfuse, turn adrift, cast adrift, scatter to the winds, spread like wildfire, disperse themselves.

Levity

N levity, lightness, imponderability, buoyancy, volatility, feather, dust, mote, down, thistle, down, flue, cobweb, gossamer, straw, cork, bubble, balloon, float, buoy, ether, air, leaven, ferment, barm, yeast, lighter-than-air balloon, helium balloon, hydrogen balloon, hot air balloon, convection, thermal draft, thermal, light, subtile, airy, imponderous, imponderable, astatic, weightless, ethereal, sublimated, gossamery, suberose, suberous, uncompressed, volatile, buoyant, floating, portable, light as a feather, light as a thistle, light as air, lighter than air, rise like a balloon, float like a balloon.