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• straw
  straw

  noun

  a single stalk or stem, especially of certain species of grain, chiefly wheat, rye, oats, and barley.
• Straw
  Straw

  noun

  Jack, full name John Whitaker Straw. born 1946, British Labour politician; Home Secretary (1997–2001); Foreign Secretary (2001–06); Lord Chancellor (2007–10)

straw

American  

[straw] / strɔ /

noun

• straws
  plural

1. a single stalk or stem, especially of certain species of grain, chiefly wheat, rye, oats, and barley.

2. a mass of such stalks, especially after drying and threshing, used as fodder.

3. material, fibers, etc., made from such stalks, as used for making hats or baskets.

4. the negligible value of one such stalk; trifle; least bit.

   not to care a straw.

5. a tube, usually of paper or glass, for sucking up a beverage from a container.

   to sip lemonade through a straw.

6. anything of possible but dubious help in a desperate circumstance.

7. straw man.

8. a straw hat.

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adjective

1. of, pertaining to, containing, or made of straw.

   a straw hat.

2. of the color of straw; pale yellow.

3. of little value or consequence; worthless.

4. sham; fictitious.

idioms

1. draw straws, to decide by lottery using straws or strawlike items of different lengths, usually with the short straw or straws determining the person chosen or the loser.

2. catch / clutch / grasp at a straw / straws / any straw(s), to seize at any chance, no matter how slight, of saving oneself from calamity.

straw ¹ British  

/ strɔː /

noun

1. 1. stalks of threshed grain, esp of wheat, rye, oats, or barley, used in plaiting hats, baskets, etc, or as fodder

   2. ( as modifier )

      a straw hat

2. a single dry or ripened stalk, esp of a grass

3. a long thin hollow paper or plastic tube or stem of a plant, used for sucking up liquids into the mouth

4. (usually used with a negative) anything of little value or importance

   I wouldn't give a straw for our chances

5. a measure or remedy that one turns to in desperation (esp in the phrases clutch or grasp at a straw or straws )

6. 1. a pale yellow colour

   2. ( as adjective )

      straw hair

7. a hint or indication

8. a small incident, setback, etc that, coming after others, proves intolerable

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adjective

1. having little value or substance

Straw ² British  

/ strɔː /

noun

1. Jack, full name John Whitaker Straw. born 1946, British Labour politician; Home Secretary (1997–2001); Foreign Secretary (2001–06); Lord Chancellor (2007–10)

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straw ³ British  

/ strɔː /

verb

1. archaic another word for strew

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straw More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing straw

• draw straws
• grasp at straws
• last straw
• make bricks without straw
• not worth a dime (straw)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• strawless
  adjective
• strawlike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• straws
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of straw

before 950; Middle English; Old English strēaw; cognate with German Stroh; akin to strew

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Explanation

Straw is a fiber made from dried plant stalks. Horses love it. People make baskets, hats, bedding, fuel, and much more from straw. But not drinking straws —those are usually plastic. Many farm animals have sleeping areas lined with straw. This stiff, dry fiber is also added to animal feed, pressed into bricks that can be burned as fuel, and even made into bales that can comprise the walls of a home. Straw is what's left over when the grain and chaff have been removed from cereal plants like wheat. The Old English streaw literally means "that which is scattered or strewn." As a color, straw is light yellowish beige.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

straw Straw straws

Humans, for instance, can drink through a straw while upside down and still breathe.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026

Someone finds a plastic straw to point with instead.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026

Also offered: a straw maze, pumpkin decorating, a petting zoo, giant rocking horses, slides and more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026

River levels in Germany dropped to record lows, and England’s green fields turned straw yellow.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026

But Anna’s house was like ours: a hearth with banked-up ashes, a bed of straw, a three-legged stool.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

"It was previously known that the directional information in the waggle dance is not entirely accurate," explains Straw.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026

Buglife said animals including the Straw Belle, which now only survives at up to two sites in Surrey, and one of the UK's rarest insect, the hazel pot beetle, stand to benefit from the project.

From BBC ● Jun. 13, 2026

"It is the first time in my life that I experience a total closure" of the Holy Sepulchre, Jack Straw, a 52-year-old resident of Jerusalem’s Old City, told AFP.

From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026

The second, Netflix’s “One Piece,” which returns March 10, follows the ragtag Straw Hat Pirates of executive producer Eiichiro Oda’s manga series as they pursue the valuable One Piece treasure.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 6, 2026

Straw poked from his head like extra hair.

From "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli

Should we draw straws to see who gets it?

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 7, 2026

“We’re grabbing for straws, trying to develop something,” an officer told the New York Times within 24 hours of the bombing.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

Some kitemakers have success with straws, but straws typically work better with diamond-shaped kites.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 3, 2026

ANL has countered that evidence will prove it sourced its stories legitimately and that claims around the use of private investigators were "clutching at straws in the wind".

From Barron's ● Feb. 6, 2026

The wind blew down the valley, picking up dust and straws, and grew stronger and harsher as it went south.

From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck

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