straw boss
noun
a member of a work crew, as in a factory or logging camp, who acts as a boss; assistant foreman.
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straw boss
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straw-boss
straw-bossverb (used with object)to act as a straw boss to.
straw boss
1 Americannoun
straw-boss
2
American
[straw-baws, -bos]
/ ˈstrɔˌbɔs, -ˌbɒs /
verb (used with object)
straw boss
Idioms
Etymology
Origin of straw boss
An Americanism dating back to 1890–95
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:
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
Ambitious workers?from hard-hat musclemen to round-shouldered slipstick artists were already clamoring to work under the Brooklyn-born straw boss.
From Time Magazine Archive
Laughlin will be publisher and straw boss of Perspectives, but "to avoid any taint of cultism," each issue will have a different editor.
From Time Magazine Archive
Democrat Johnson, leaving early for an Easter vacation on his LBJ ranch in Texas, had put Montana's Mike Mansfield, assistant majority leader, in his chair as straw boss.
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
Last week, while the tools and blueprints were still being got together, it sent Indiana's slightly dented political knight-errant, Paul V. McNutt, off to Manila as High Com missioner, to straw-boss the work.
From Time Magazine Archive
The U.S. got a topnotch builder last week to straw-boss its 41,000-mile interstate-highway program.
From Time Magazine Archive
A hard-thinking strategist and Rayburn's straw-boss member of the Rules Committee, Boiling had started preparing for the battle months ahead of time.
From Time Magazine Archive
The straw-boss was looking at him coldly, and Bill moved farther away.
From The Snow-Burner by Henry Oyen
He was a new man, and therefore was expected to take signals from the oldest man on the job,—a sort of straw-boss.
From The Last Spike And Other Railroad Stories by Cy Warman
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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.
