jackstraw
Americannoun
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one of a group of strips of wood or similar objects, as straws or toothpicks, used in the game of jackstraws.
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(used with a singular verb) jackstraws, a game in which players compete in picking up, one by one, as many jackstraws as possible without disturbing the heap.
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Obsolete.
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a straw-stuffed figure of a man; scarecrow; straw man.
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an insignificant person.
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Etymology
Origin of jackstraw
First recorded in 1590–1600; after Jack Straw, name or nickname of one of the leaders of the rebellion headed by Wat Tyler in 1381 in England
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Somewhere in the vast pile of jittery, jackstraw masonry he hopes to find an unrobbed royal tomb, protected by an architect's error 5,000 years ago.
From Time Magazine Archive
On Ghika's canvas, Paris' chimneyed rooftops, the jackstraw confusion of a Greek hillside town become strict, disciplined designs blocked in with arbitrary colors.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the distance, against billowing white clouds, stood a jackstraw jumble of ships' masts.
From "The Whipping Boy" by Sid Fleischman
To place my third jackstraw, which follows twenty years after the second, uninterruptedly in this group, I pass over for the moment our War of 1812.
From A Straight Deal or The Ancient Grudge by Owen Wister
You’ve got no right to resent it, though I don’t care a jackstraw whether you do or not.
From Brand Blotters by Clarence H. (Clarence Herbert) Rowe
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
