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

Word History and Origins

Origin of windlestraw¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of windlestraw¹

Old English windelstrēaw, from windel basket, from windan to _wind ² + strēaw _straw ¹

Example Sentences

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

Read more on Project Gutenberg

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.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

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.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

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?"

Read more on Project Gutenberg

"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.

Read more on Project Gutenberg