An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The one name you will not find in that essay is Lance Armstrong, who was the straw boss of the team during Vaughters’s short time around the Tour.
From New York Times • Aug. 24, 2012
To get arms production rolling, Mobilization Boss Charles E. Wilson and his straw boss, Defense Production Administrator William H. Harrison, are calling scores of businessmen to Washington.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dowd, as a kind of union straw boss called a "master mechanic," must be kept on the job at the World Trade Center whenever three or more operating engineers are on duty.
From Time Magazine Archive
In his sharply tailored suits, pointed-toe shoes, dark glasses and pinkie ring, Cammillieri was an unlikely looking straw boss for an office building construction gang.
From Time Magazine Archive
The straw boss had no faith in her, having watched her sweating hard to fill her sack as quickly as the children, but she was highly and suddenly vocal in her determination.
From "Jazz" by Toni Morrison
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.
