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short straw

British

noun

to be the person (as in drawing lots) to whom an unwelcome task or fate falls

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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short straw

Sometimes in life, you draw the short straw.

From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2026

But experts contacted by AFP said Ecuador may draw the short straw in its standoff with Colombia, whose ministry of mines and energy announced a suspension of "international electricity transactions" with the neighboring country.

From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026

West Ham have drawn the short straw amongst English clubs in being given an early kick-off time as broadcaster TNT split the four games where the Premier League sides, plus Glasgow Rangers, are at home.

From BBC ● Mar. 13, 2024

I look at writers like Ian McEwan or Charles Dickens or Kazuo Ishiguro – the great writers – and I think to myself that I've drawn the short straw being the populist murder mystery writer.

From Salon ● Nov. 21, 2022

“I just got on a master’s bad side. He made sure I drew the short straw for this little trip.”

From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023