windlestraw

American  

[win-dl-straw, win-l-] / ˈwɪn dlˌstrɔ, ˈwɪn 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.

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windlestraw British  

/ ˈwɪndəlˌstrɔː /

noun

1. the dried stalk of any of various grasses

2. anything weak or feeble, esp a thin unhealthy person

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Etymology

Origin of windlestraw

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

Example Sentences

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

From The Dew of Their Youth by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)

I knew the windlestraw, Guy de Villehardouin, a raw young provincial, come up the first time to Court, but a fiery little cockerel for all of that. 

From The Jacket (Star-Rover) by London, Jack

"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.

From Sir John Constantine Memoirs of His Adventures At Home and Abroad and Particularly in the Island of Corsica: Beginning with the Year 1756 by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

But before I found them I encountered a windlestraw which showed which way blew the wind and gave promise of a very gale. 

From The Jacket (Star-Rover) by London, Jack

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.

From Doom Castle by Munro, Neil