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windlestraw

[ win-dl-straw, win-l- ]

noun

, British Dialect.
  1. a withered stalk of any of various grasses.
  2. any of various long-stalked species of grass.
  3. any tall, thin person.
  4. any light or flimsy material or object.


windlestraw

/ ˈwɪndəlˌstrɔː /

noun

  1. the dried stalk of any of various grasses
  2. anything weak or feeble, esp a thin unhealthy person
“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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Word History and Origins

Origin of windlestraw1

before 1000; Old English windelstrēaw (not attested in ME). See windle, straw
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Word History and Origins

Origin of windlestraw1

Old English windelstrēaw, from windel basket, from windan to wind ² + strēaw straw 1
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Example Sentences

“Lever it!” cried the gruff voice, “if you have the backbone of a windlestraw, lever!”

My dear man of moods! my good vagabond! my windlestraw of circumstance! constant only to one ideal—the unattainable perfection in a kind of roguish art.

The two men carried the chest along at a rate that perhaps came easily enough to Jim Lucky, who was a young giant of a seaman, but was astonishing for a thin, windlestraw of a man such as Glass.

Where, then, are the theories of Carlyle, the axioms of "Sartor Resartus," the inability of humanity to conceive "a naked Duke of Windlestraw addressing a naked House of Lords?"

"Ai-ee!" cried the accused, still shielding his neck and cowering in the dust—a thin ragged windlestraw of a youth, flaxen-headed, hatchet-faced, with eyes set like a hare's.

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