straw
noun
a single stalk or stem, especially of certain species of grain, chiefly wheat, rye, oats, and barley.
straw
American
[straw]
/ strɔ /
noun
-
straws
plural
-
a single stalk or stem, especially of certain species of grain, chiefly wheat, rye, oats, and barley.
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a mass of such stalks, especially after drying and threshing, used as fodder.
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material, fibers, etc., made from such stalks, as used for making hats or baskets.
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the negligible value of one such stalk; trifle; least bit.
not to care a straw.
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a tube, usually of paper or glass, for sucking up a beverage from a container.
to sip lemonade through a straw.
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anything of possible but dubious help in a desperate circumstance.
-
a straw hat.
adjective
-
of, pertaining to, containing, or made of straw.
a straw hat.
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of the color of straw; pale yellow.
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of little value or consequence; worthless.
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sham; fictitious.
idioms
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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.
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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
-
-
stalks of threshed grain, esp of wheat, rye, oats, or barley, used in plaiting hats, baskets, etc, or as fodder
-
( as modifier )
a straw hat
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a single dry or ripened stalk, esp of a grass
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a long thin hollow paper or plastic tube or stem of a plant, used for sucking up liquids into the mouth
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(usually used with a negative) anything of little value or importance
I wouldn't give a straw for our chances
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a measure or remedy that one turns to in desperation (esp in the phrases clutch or grasp at a straw or straws )
-
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a pale yellow colour
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( as adjective )
straw hair
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a hint or indication
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a small incident, setback, etc that, coming after others, proves intolerable
adjective
Straw
2
British
/ strɔː /
noun
straw
3
British
/ strɔː /
verb
straw
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of straw
before 950; Middle English; Old English strēaw; cognate with German Stroh; akin to strew
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.
Vocabulary lists containing straw
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.
See Examples For:
This letter being read out in full on BBC Radio 4 turns out to be the last straw for poor Verity.
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
I am now carrying a gorgeous straw tote and wearing linen that has somehow survived public transit without acquiring a wrinkle.
From Salon ● Aug. 4, 2026
The Dodgers already have the best, richest roster in the game and they keep reaching over with their straw and drinking everyone’s milkshake.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026
"The straw polls may show that some candidates are just not viable, and allow them to bow out in a dignified manner," Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group told AFP.
From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026
I sank down on the narrow bed, then went into a fresh paroxysm of coughs as a cloud of choking black dust rose from the filthy straw mattress.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
"It was previously known that the directional information in the waggle dance is not entirely accurate," explains Straw.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 14, 2026
His comments came after former Home Secretary Jack Straw told the Telegraph there had been an "over-correction" within policing after the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 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
While Ahmadinejad was dressed in “vintage, early 1980s” clothes, Larijani came from “the opposite end of the sartorial spectrum: suave, wearing a carefully pressed Ralph Lauren polo shirt,” Straw wrote in his memoir.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 8, 2026
“His other boys, Ser Orson and Dick Straw, Hun- gerford, Will of the Woods, that lot, they’re still down in some dungeon thanks to us. Old Rags can’t have liked that much.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
“There will be a lot of straws dipping into the pool,” Carstens said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 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
And, if you’re feeling playful, a whimsical bread: miniature muffins, pesto pull-apart bread, chickpea flour flatbreads, cheese straws, popovers — something that makes people point across the table and say, “Wait, what are those?”
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
The company that owns the vending machine, iJooz, says it replaced all 500 straws in the machine's dispenser after the alleged incident.
From BBC ● Apr. 27, 2026
Next day Pa cut the heads from several bundles of the oats, and brought the clean, bright, yellow straws to Ma.
From "Little House in the Big Woods" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
