Forms: α. 1 stréaw, strau, 3 strauȝ, strauue, 3–7 strawe, 5 strauhe, strawh, 4– straw; β. 1 stréow, streu(w, strew (pl. strewu); γ. 1 stré, 1–5, 9 dial. stree, 4–6 stre (pl. stren), 5–6, 8–9 dial. strey, 7–9 dial. strea, streea, streay (7 pl. strease); δ. 3–9 north. stra (5 pl. strase), 6–7 Sc. strai, stray (pl. strais), 6–9 Sc. strae; ε. 5 strowh, 5–6 Sc. and north. stro, stroye, 7 stroe, 5–7 strowe. [Com. Teut. (not found in Gothic): OE. stréaw neut. = OFris. stré (NFris. strâi, stre, WFris. strie), OS., MLG., MDu. strô (Du. stroo) neut., OHG., MHG. strô neut., gen. strawes, strówes (mod.G. stroh masc.), ON. strá neut. (Sw. strâ, Da. straa):—OTeut. *strawo-, f. root *strau-: streu-: see STREW v.
The ON. form strá is prob. in part the source of the Sc. and Northern stra, strae, etc., and of the North Midland and Northern stro, though in some dialectal areas the normal phonetic development from OE. would issue in forms coincident with these. The Scottish stro of the 15–16th c. is a literary alteration of stra.]
I. Collective sing.
1. The stems or stalks (esp. dry and separated by threshing) of certain cereals, chiefly wheat, barley, oats and rye. Used for many purposes, e.g., as litter and as fodder for cattle, as filling for bedding, as thatch, also plaited or woven as material for hats, beehives, etc.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., iv. (Z.), 8. Foenum, gærs oððe streow [v.rr. streaw, strau]. Ibid., xiii. (Z.), 83. Foenum strew [v.rr. streow, streaw, strau].
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 114. Bærne þanne streuw.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 404. Sume hi cuwon heora ʓescy,… sume streaw.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 7204. His bandes al he brac in tua, Als þai had ben made bot on stra.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 859. How is this candele in the strawe y-falle?
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 233. Whan he streyneth hym to streche þe strawe is his schetes.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 119. Swepte as þe pament from hilyyng of stree. Ibid. (1388), Isa. lxv. 25. A lioun and an oxe schulen ete stree.
1422. Yonge, trans. Secreta Secret., 239. Suche a stomake is likenyd to the litill fire, that may brande but flex or stree.
c. 1440. Lydg., Horse, Goose & Sheep, 196. As pilwes been to chaumbris agreable, So is hard strauhe litteer for the stable.
c. 1450. Capgrave, St. Gilbert, vi. 71. On his bed had our maystir Gilbert … no bolstering but strawe.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg. (1913), 144. Þe chaffe schall Abide togedur with þe strow to me and to my heyres.
c. 1480. Henryson, Test. Cresseid, 439. And for thy Bed tak now ane bunche of stro [rhyme-words tho, ago].
1491. in Acta Dom. Concil. (1839), 222/1. For hay & stra price xxiiij s.
1501. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., II. 124. Item,… to James Dog to by stray to the Kingis chamir in Invernes. xvj d.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 6. Horses … must haue … strawe for lytter.
1549. in Feuillerat, Revels Edw. VI. (1914), 43. For Strawe to Stuff the baggs, iiijd.
a. 1568. A. Scott, Poems (S.T.S.), xxxv. 19. Lyk dust and stro [rhyme-word no] Bene vaneist wt the wind.
1579. in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., 402/2. Yeirlie ane wedder, ane creill full of peittis and ane sled full of stray.
1593. Extracts Munic. Acc. Newcastle (1848), 31. Paide for stro, candle, drinke, and stringe, which bounde the semynaries armes before he was executed, 9d.
1637. Milton, Lycidas, 124. Their lean and flashy songs Grate on their scrannel Pipes of wretched straw.
1657. Lamont, Diary (Maitl. Club), 100. None should be obleidged to bring any oatts to the English troupe horses any longer, but only stra hireafter.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 173/2. Blend Fodder, is Hay and Straw mixed.
c. 1730. Burt, Lett. N. Scotl. (1754), II. xxiii. 233. He dy’d at Hame, lik an auld Dug, on a Puckle o’ Strae.
1765. Museum Rust., IV. 221. The straw of rye is much more valuable, both for thatching, bedding and fodder than the straw of wheat.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, x. Paolo soon after turned into his bed of straw.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food Man, 45. The straw of summer wheat is more agreeable to cattle than that produced from winter sowing.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xix. She had the street laid knee-deep with straw; and the knocker put by.
1868. Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869), 417. It [sc. wheat] stooled out much more than either, and was uniform in ripeness and length of straw.
1875. W. Paterson, Notes Milit. Surv. (ed. 3), 80. Load of straw = 36 trusses each of 36 lbs.
b. fig. with reference to the small value of straw in comparison with the grain, or to its ready inflammability.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 603. Me list nat of the chaf or of the stree Maken so long a tale as of the corn.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 6354. I … go thurgh alle regiouns, Seking alle religiouns. But to what ordre that I am sworn, I take the strawe, and lete the corn.
1610. Shaks., Temp., IV. 52. Strongest oathes, are straw To th’ fire ith’ blood.
† c. Thatch, thatched houses. Obs.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 27. A small Village of Straw unworthy the notice.
2. Phrases. a. To make bricks without straw: said with allusion to Exodus v.
The current form and application of the saying are hardly justified by the narrative. The Israelites were not required to make bricks without straw (which was an indispensable binding material for sun-dried bricks), but to gather the straw for themselves instead of having it furnished to them. The phrase, however, now commonly means ‘(to be required) to produce results without the means usually considered necessary.’ Cf. the accurate use in quot. 1661.
1658. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 79. It is an hard task to make bricks without straw.
1661. Dk. Ormonde, in 11th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. V. 10. If they will not let that [act] passe … and yet will have us keepe armys, is it not requireing a tale of bricks, without allowing the straw.
1874. L. Stephen, Hours in Library, I. vi. 271. It is often good for us to have to make bricks without straw.
1883. Miss M. Betham-Edwards, Disarmed, i. I. 5. The fact is, you are fast being spoiled. But your task from to-day will be to make bricks without straw. No appeal shall induce me to have pity on you.
b. In the straw: in childbed, lying-in. So out of the straw, recovered after childbearing.
In quot. 1786 the phrase is taken to refer to the practice of laying down straw (to deaden noise) before a house where there is a confinement. It is doubtful whether this was the original meaning, though the practice was common.
a. 1661. Fuller, Worthies, Lincs. (1662), 149. Our English plain Proverb, De Puerperis, they are in the Straw; shows Feather-Beds to be of no ancient use amongst the Common sort of our Nation.
1705. [E. Ward], Hudibras Rediv., IV. 18. We sipp’d our Fuddle, As Women in the Straw do Caudle.
1772. Grimston Papers (MS.), I hope your neighbour, Mrs. G., is safe out of the straw, and the child well.
1785. Burgoyne, Heiress, I. i. You take care to send [sc. cards] to all the lying-in ladies? Prompt. At their doors, Madam, before the first load of straw…. Prompt. (Reading his memorandum as he goes out). Ladies in the straw—Ministers, &c. … never a better list [etc.].
1822. De Quincey, Confess. (1823), 120. In the phrase of ladies in the straw, ‘as well as can be expected.’
1832. Marryat, N. Forster, xv. They found the lady in the straw.
c. In the straw: (of corn) not yet threshed.
1701. C. Wolley, Jrnl. Nev York (1860), 59. I paid for two load or Oats in the straw 18 shillings.
1702. Act 1 Anne Stat. II. c. 10 § 14. All Carts with … Corn in the Straw.
d. To run to straw: see RUN v. 69 e.
1659. Gauden, Slight Healers (1660), 89. Physitians that are not by much study … run out to Atheism (as some corn in lusty ground doth to straw and halm).
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 13. You will find, that in such a case the corn will run out to a straw.
1765. [see RUN v. 69 e].
1857. Livingstone, Trav., xii. 215. It … would make corn run entirely to straw.
e. Man of straw: a person or thing compared to a straw image; a counterfeit, sham, ‘dummy’; similarly, a face of straw, etc.; (b) an imaginary adversary, or an invented adverse argument, adduced in order to be triumphantly confuted; (c) a person of no substance, esp. one who undertakes a pecuniary responsibility without having the means of discharging it; (d) a fictitious or irresponsible person fraudulently put forward as a surety or as a party in an action.
1599. Return fr. Parnass., I. i. 231. [He] braggs … of his liberalitie to schollers…: but indeed he is a meere man of strawe, a great lumpe of drousie earth.
1615. Daniel, Hymen’s Tri., II. i. Wks. (1623), 283. Idolatrize not so that Sexe, but hold A man of strawe more then a wife of gold [= Fr. proverb: ‘Un homme de paille vaut une femme d’or’].
1624. Gataker, Transubst., 92. To skirmish with a man of straw of his owne making.
1652. R. Saunders, Balm to heal Relig. Wounds, 82. He … strikes at randome at a man of straw.
1675. Wycherley, Country Wife, IV. iii. 67. I will not be your drudge by day, to squire your wife about, and be your man of straw, or scare-crow only to Pyes and Jays; that would be nibling at your forbidden fruit.
1677. 2nd Packet Adv. to Men of Shaftesbury, 52. I rather suppose the Some that say so never were men of God’s making, but mere men of straw set up by Master Bencher, for a Tryal of his own Skill in Confutation.
a. 1734. North, Exam., III. vii. (1740), 508. The Verity of all such Suppositions denied, off drops the Vizor, and a Face of Straw appears.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 253. What is this but placing the essence of virtue in her outside, making her a man of straw, an empty covering containing nothing within?
1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Dict. Turf, 167. ‘Man of straw,’ a bill-acceptor, without property—‘no assets.’
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xxi. If the defendant be a man of straw, who is to pay the costs, Sir?
1840. De Quincey, Style, Wks. 1859, XI. 218. It is always Socrates and Crito, or Socrates and Phædrus,… in fact, Socrates and some man of straw or good-humoured nine-pin set up to be bowled down as a matter of course.
1876. L. Stephen, Hours in Library, II. ii. 67. But no man can dispense with the aid of a living antagonist, free from all suspicion of being a man of straw.
1885. Law Times’ Rep., LIII. 484/1. The real plaintiff may assign his interest to a man of straw, and in such a case the court will require security to be given.
† f. A pad in the straw: see PAD sb.1 3. Obs.
† g. Mil. For straw: (see quots.) Obs.–0
[A rendering of Fr. à la paille, from the phrase aller à la paille, ‘to go in search of straw for the horses,’ hence ‘to be allowed a short interval of rest from carrying arms.’]
1702. Milit. Dict. (1704), s.v., For Straw, is a word of command to dismiss the Soldiers when they have grounded their Arms, so that they be ready to return to them upon the first firing of a Musket, or beat of Drum. [Hence 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey); and many later Dicts.]
† h. To condemn to straw: to declare worthy of a madhouse. Obs.
1779. Johnson, L. P., Dryden (1868), 163. Virgil would have been too hasty if he had condemned him [Statius] to straw for one sounding line.
3. Extended to denote the stalks of certain other plants, chiefly pease and buckwheat.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 156. Pernet dount de pessas [gloss] pese stree.
1579. E. K., Gloss. to Spenser’s Sheph. Cal., 256. Vetchie, of Pease strawe.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 126. These Bottles are covered with the Straw of Canes.
1760. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, II. 83. The straw [of buckwheat] is good fodder for cattle.
1795. Vancouver, Agric. Essex, 178. To discontinue the practice of burning the straw of coleseed, mustard, coriander, carraway.
1805. R. W. Dickson, Pract. Agric., II. 628. The haulm or straw of the potatoe.
1892. Gardeners’ Chron., 27 Aug., 237/2. Messrs. Carter should have preferred it if the straw [of a pea] had not been so long.
b. U.S. Pine needles.
1856. Olmsted, Slave States, 321. The leaves, or straw, as its foliage [i.e., that of the yellow pine] is called here.
1860. Whitman, Amer. Feuillage, 36. The ground in all directions is cover’d with pine straw.
c. In plant-names, as camel’s straw, sea straw.
1516. Gt. Herbal, ccclxxxvi. (1529), X iij b. Squinante is an herbe that is called camelles strawe, bycause camelles do eate it.
c. 1711. Petiver, Gazophyl., X. 91. Sussex Sea-straw.
4. The straw of wheat or other cereal plants plaited or woven to form a material for hats and bonnets; a kind or variety of this material, or an imitation of it (made, e.g., from paper).
1730. Mrs. Eliz. Thomas, Metam. Town (1731), 20. Straw, lin’d with Green, their May-day Hats.
1783. O’Keeffe, Birth-day, 17. With her stockings green, and her hat of straw.
1859. Ladies’ Cabinet, Nov., 278/1. Plain Dunstable straws continue to be worn.
1895. Daily News, 20 March, 7/1. Paper straws are among the new things…. Hats and bonnets made of these straws are inexpensive.
1902. Daily Chron., 1 Feb., 8/3. The newest straw resembles the petals of a flower, and is called chrysanthemum straw; also there is more lace straw going to be worn than last year.
II. A single stem of a cereal, etc.
5. A stem of any cereal plant, esp. when dry and separated from the grain; also, a piece of such a stem.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 135. Ne lat hie [Honestas] nawht ðe hande pleiȝende mid stikke, ne mid strawe.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 296. Þe cwene seide ful soð þet mid one strea brouhte o brune alle hire huses, þet muchel kumeð of lutel.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 1745. In titering, and pursuite, and delayes, The folk devyne at wagginge of a stree.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 1837. Lych hornys of a lytell snayl, Wych … for a lytel strawh wyl shrynke.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 94, in Babees Bk. Clense not thi tethe … With knyfe ne stre, styk ne wande.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. iii. 108. Those that with haste will make a mightie fire, Begin it with weake Strawes.
1675. Owen, Indwelling Sin, xvii. (1732), 233. No more Impression … than Blows with a Straw would give to an Adamant.
1732. Pope, Ess. Man, ii. 276. Behold the child, by Nature’s kindly law, Pleas’d with a rattle, tickled with a straw.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 817. The communication may be maintained by any slight tube, as a straw, or a reed.
1897. E. Howlett, in W. Andrews’ Legal Lore, 92. In some manors the surrender [of lands] is effected by the delivery of a rod, in others of a straw.
transf. 1587. T. Newton, Herbal for Bible, xxvii. 150. Another kinde of Reede … hath a long, round and hollowe stalke or strawe, full of knottie ioints.
† b. Collective plural = sense 1. Obs.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 143. In stede of mete gras and stres,… He syh.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., III. 362. With rysshes or with stren me most hem bynde [L. tunc iunco aut ulmo aut uimine stringimus].
1583. Leg. Bp. St. Androis, 299. Reasing the devill … With … Palme croces, and knottis of strease.
c. Poet. = OAT sb. 5. rare. (Cf. quot. 1637 in 1.)
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 913. When Shepheards pipe on Oaten strawes.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., III. 37. Dunce at the best; in Streets but scarce allow’d To tickle, on thy Straw, the stupid Crowd.
d. A straw in the shoe is said to have been the sign by which loafers about the courts of law advertised their readiness to perjure themselves for money. Cf. straw-shoe in 14.
1743. Fielding, Jon. Wild, I. ii. An eminent gentleman,… who was famous for so friendly a disposition, that he was bail for above a hundred persons in one year. He had likewise the remarkable humour of walking in Westminster-hall with a straw in his shoe.
e. Bot.
1776. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., Explan. Terms 378. Culmus, a Straw, properly the Trunk of Grasses.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants, II. 80. Straws round, and somewhat flattened.
1821. Sir J. E. Smith, Gram. Bot., 6. Culmus, a Culm or Straw, the peculiar stem of Grasses, is leafy, cylindrical [etc.].
1839. Lindley, Introd. Bot., I. ii. 84. From the caulis, Linnæus, following the older botanists, distinguished the culmus or straw, which is the stem of Grasses.
f. Mining. (See quot.)
1860. Engl. & For. Mining Gloss., Staffs. Terms, 80. Straw, a fine straw filled with powder and used as a fuse.
1886. J. Barrowman, Sc. Mining Terms, 65. Straw, or strae, a fuse composed of a straw filled with gunpowder.
g. (See quot. 1883.)
1872. ‘A. Merion,’ Odd Echoes Oxf., 21.
| Come let the mackerel soused be brought, the pigeon-pie, the tongue, | |
| The cider-cup and straws, and let the radishes be young. |
1883. Schele de Vere, in Encycl. Amer., I. 201/1. With the various drinks invented by Americans came into use the straws—slender tubes of wheat, or even of glass—through which beverages are sucked up, or, as it is called, imbibed.
6. A small particle of straw or chaff, a ‘mote.’
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt., Introd. 17. Lytles strees vel micles beames. Ibid., Matt. vii. 3. Huæt ðonne ʓesiistu stre vel mot in eʓo broðres ðines.
c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 405/33. Fistucam, strewu, eʓlan.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet, ii. 5. In þi broþir ehe þu ses a stra, And noht a balke in þin aȝen.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reas. & Sens., 6084. Awmber … ryght myghty in werkyng … For to drawe to him strawys.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 27. Take good hede, that the sherers of all maner of whyte corne cast not vppe theyr handes hastely, for thanne all the … strawes … flieth ouer his heed.
1639. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 99. Amber will draw unto it any manner of strawes except of the hearb Basill.
1750. trans. Leonardus’ Mirr. Stones, 108. Being heated with rubbing, gagates attracts straws and chaff.
7. Often used as a type of what is of trifling value or importance, as in not to care a straw (two, three straws), and similar phrases.
c. 1290. St. Michael, 151, in S. Eng. Leg., 304. Nis nouþe no man aliue þat hire couþe habbe i-wust so wel, Ne so hire i-fed and hire child þat ne costnede nouȝt a stravȝ.
a. 1300. Havelok, 315. He let his oth al ouer-ga, Þerof ne yaf he nouth a stra.
c. 1369. Chaucer, Dethe Blaunche, 718. Socrates … ne counted nat thre strees Of noght that fortune koude doo.
c. 1400. Ywaine & Gaw., 2655. By his sar set he noght a stra.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1670. Swiche vsage is Not worþ a strawe.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, IV. liii. (1869), 201. Deth, j drede þee nouht a straw.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. xiv. 22. Thou fers fo, Thy fervent words compt I nocht a stro.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 1021. I force not argument a straw, Since that my case is past the help of law.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, xxix. 29. ’Tis not a Straw matter whether the Main Cause be Right or Wrong.
1780. Mirror, No. 103. An explanation, besides exposing me to their resentment (but that I did not value a straw), would have [etc.].
1861. Hughes, Tom Brown at Oxf., iii. Drysdale, who didn’t care three straws about knowing St. Cloud.
1887. Spectator, 1 Oct., 1304/1. The British Government … does not care one straw what religion its subjects profess, or of they profess none.
† b. A straw for —: an expression of contempt.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, V. 362. A strawe for alle swevenes signifiaunce!
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 622. But straw vnto hir reed! wolde I [etc.].
c. 1460. Play Sacram., 205. Yea yea master a strawe for talis that manot sale.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. Prol. 33. Stra for thys ignorant blabring inperfyte Beside thi polyte termis redemyte.
a. 1529. Skelton, Bouge of Court, 341. Naye, strawe for tales, thou shalte not rule vs.
1549. Chaloner, Erasm. Praise Folly, A j b. In whiche poinct, a strawe for all these cankerd philosophers, and sages, who saie [etc.].
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 119. Back (quoth the woodcocke): Straw for the (quoth the dawe).
1598. R. Bernard, trans. Terence (1607), Andria, IV. ii. A straw for such as would haue vs two at debate.
† c. Used as an exclamation, = rubbish! nonsense! Obs.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 1874. Ye straw! let be! Ibid., 5191. Straw! be he neuer so harrageous, If he & she shul dwellen in on house, Goode is he suffre.
c. 1520. Skelton, Magnyf., 564. Tushe, a strawe! Ibid. (a. 1529), E. Rummyng, 535. A strawe, sayde Bele, stande vtter, For we haue egges and butter. Ibid., Manerly Margery, 5. Tully valy, strawe, let be, I say!
d. A trifle; a frivolous ground of quarrel, a trifling difficulty.
1692. [J. Wilson], Vindic. Carol., i. 17. Here also he quarrels at Straws.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, VI. vii. My passions will not, just now, be irritated by straws.
1828. Carlyle, Misc., Burns (1840), I. 367. Mighty events turn on a straw.
1858. Trollope, Dr. Thorne, xxxiii. When he spoke of the difficulties in his way, she twitted him by being overcome by straws.
8. In certain proverbs, and allusive senses derived from them. (See quots.)
a. 1748. Richardson, Clarissa, VII. 12. A drowning man will catch at a straw, the Proverb well says.
1823. Scott, Quentin D., xxxv. Love, like despair, catches at straws.
1853. Mrs. Gaskell, Ruth, xxx. That hope was the one straw that Mr. Bradshaw clung to.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, xxv. 331. He had been compelled, however, to suppress both his shame and his pride, and grasp at the straw held out to him.
b. 1848. Dickens, Dombey, ii. As the last straw breaks the laden camel’s back, this piece of underground information crushed the sinking spirits of Mr. Dombey.
1874. S. Walpole, Life Perceval, II. vii. 260. The difference about the grant to the Prince was of course only the last straw. The load on Lord Wellesley had been long intolerable.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 865. In ordinary cases of the disease there is often some minor exciting cause which acts as a ‘last straw.’ Ibid., VII. 693. Sunstroke may act as the ‘last straw.’
c. 1835. Lytton, Rienzi, II. iii. The Provençal, who well knew how to construe the wind by the direction of straws.
1846. Fraser’s Mag., XXXIII. 131. This straw shews the peculiar superstitiousness of Johnson’s mind.
1852. Bristed, Five Yrs. Eng. Univ. (ed. 2), 365. One of the smallest possible straws may be taken as an indication of the direction in which the aura popularis now set.
1861. Reade, Cloister & H., lvi. And such straws of speech show how blows the wind.
1915. Daily News, 28 Dec., 4. Occasional tavern brawls between German and Bulgarian officers are no doubt only straws, but the lesson they point is reinforced by [etc.].
9. In various phrases.
† a. To turn every straw, leave no straw unturned: to search everywhere for something lost.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 324. He secheð hine anonriht, & to-went euerich strea uort he beo ifunden.
1575. Gammer Gurton’s Needle, I. iv. 12. So see in all the heaps of dust thou leave no straw vnturned.
† b. To lay a straw: to stop, desist. There a straw! = here I will stop. Obs.
c. 1480. Henryson, Orph. & Euryd., 241. Off sik musik to wryte I do bot dote, Tharfor at this mater a stra I lay.
c. 1550. [G. Walker], Manif. Detect. Diceplay, B ij. Well, as to that, there lay a strawe tyll anone, that the matter lede vs to speake more of it.
1568. V. Skinner, trans. Gonsalvius’ Sp. Inquis., 63. There they were enforced to lay a straw.
1580. G. Harvey, Three Proper Lett., iii. 49. You may communicate as much … as you list,… with the two Gentlemen: but there a straw, and you loue me: not with any one else, friend or foe.
a. 1600. Deloney, Gentle Craft, II. iii. Wks. (1912), 157. Nay soft, there lay a straw for feare of stumbling (quoth Robin).
1601. Holland, Pliny, IX. xxxvi. I. 258. If I should lay a straw here, and proceed no further in this discourse of Purples.
† c. To break a straw [= Fr. rompre la paille]: to quarrel. Obs.
1542. Udall, trans. Erasm. Apoph., 61 b. I prophecie … that Plato and Dionysius wil ere many dayes to an ende breake a strawe betwene theim.
d. To draw, gather, pick straws: (of the eyes) to be sleepy.
1691. Mrs. D’Anvers, Academia, 36. Their Eyes, by this time all drew Straws.
1694. Motteux, etc., Gentl. Jrnl., April, 84. It growing then towards eleven a clock, the City Ladies Eyes began to draw Straws.
1731–8. Swift, Pol. Conversat., iii. Wks. 1738, VI. 344. Miss. Indeed, my Eyes draw Straws (she’s almost asleep).
1796. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Orson & Ellen, v. 125. Their eyelids did not once pick straws.
1825. J. Wilson, Noctes Ambr., Wks. 1855, I. 29. But would you believe it, my beloved Shepherd, my eyes are gathering straws.
1892. Illustr. Sporting & Dram. News, 5 Nov., 270/2. That period—probably two o’clock a.m.—when the eyes of chaperons begin to ‘draw straws.’
10. Applied to various things shaped like a straw.
† a. pl. = jack-straws, JACK-STRAW 2. Obs.
1765. H. Walpole, Lett. to C’tess Suffolk, 9 July. They (I mean my bones) lie in a heap over one another like the bits of ivory at the game of straws.
b. Austral. A walking-stick insect, a phasmid.
1827. Hellyer, in Bischoff’s Van Diemen’s Land (1832), 177. I caught one of those curious insects the native straw; it is, I apprehend, a nondescript.
c. A long slender needle.
1862. Morrall, Hist. Needle-making, 39. The Straws are suited for millinery and light work, and they are often made double length, for sewing fents in Manchester.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 464. Straws … are needles of a particular description, used in hat and bonnet making.
d. A slender kind of clay pipe.
1882. Worc. Exhib. Catal., III. 28. Tobacco pipes. 10-inch Straws.
e. vCheese straw: a thin stick of pastry, containing cheese.
1877. Cassell’s Dict. Cookery, 119.
1892. T. F. Garrett, Encycl. Cookery, I. 350.
III. 11. A straw hat.
1863. Baily’s Mag., Jan., 357. I hung my saturated ‘straw’ upon a bush.
1902. Hichens, Londoners, 159. I’ve only brought a straw.
IV. In Combination.
12. attrib. (passing into adj.), with sense ‘made of straw.’ See also STRAW HAT.
1442. Will of R. Cottingham, in Fairholt, Costume, II. 387. A blak stra cappe.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. II. 83. Their houses are … layde all ouer with strawe-pallets, whereupon they doe both sit in stead of stooles, and lie in their clothes with billets vnder their heads.
1624. in Archæologia, XLVIII. 148. A strowbasket.
1679. M. Rusden, Further Discov. Bees, 2. The keeping of Bees in Box-hives, I call by the name of Colonies, to distinguish them from those kept only in Straw-hives.
1699. Evelyn, Kal. Hort., Nov. (ed. 9), 134. Cover also your most delicate Stone-fruit and Murals, skreening them with Straw-hurdles.
1707. Curios. in Husb. & Gard., 257. Cover the Earth with good Straw-Mats.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxii. A straw bonnet with pink ribbons.
1871. Macduff, Mem. Patmos, vii. 87. Hovering around the straw-pallet of some Lazarus-beggar.
13. Obvious combinations: a. Simple attrib., with the sense ‘of or pertaining to straw or straws,’ as in straw-end, -fire, -market, -mow, -pad, -rick, -stack; designating a receptacle for straw, as straw-barn, -barton, -house, -loft, rack.
1557. Tusser, 100 Points Husb., xl. But serue them with haye, while thy straw stoouer last, they loue no more strawe, they had rather to fast.
1591. Sylvester, Ivry, 289. When his fury glowes, ’Tis but as Straw-fire.
1657. Billingsly, Brachy-Martyrol., II. vii. 196. How like you (John) your lodging and your fare? Willis said, Well, had I a straw-pad here.
1662. A. Cooper, Stratologia, VI. 52. A timerous Footman … In a Straw-mough had hid himself for fear.
1677. Miége, Dict. Eng.-Fr., A Straw-house, paillier, le lieu où l’on tient la paille.
1721. Mortimer, Husb. (ed. 5), I. 143. What Corn you stack must be bound up in Sheaves, that so the Ears of the Corn may be turned inward, and the Straw-ends out.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 213. Nor did he think it more dangerous than other grass, unless cattle came hungry to it out of the straw-barton. Ibid., 215. They … were foddered in the straw-house.
a. 1747. Holdsworth, Remarks on Virgil (1768), 323. A street … formerly called La Rue de Fourrage: where the straw-market was kept.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 15. The straw-barn … should be so large as to pile up the straw of two stacks when threshed.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 1142. Straw-racks are placed in the sheds.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. IV. iii. They lie in straw-lofts, in woody brakes.
1886. W. J. Tucker, E. Europe, 187. Strawstacks, and haystacks, and maizestacks.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess, xxxii. To inquire how the advanced cows were getting on in the straw-barton. Ibid., xlvii. The old men on the rising straw-rick.
b. objective, as straw-carrier, -cutter, -cutting, etc.
1656. Collop, Poesis Rediv., 64. Th’ straw-gatherers of Egypt.
1790. W. H. Marshall, Midland Counties, II. 443. Straw-cutter, a cutter of straw, &c. into chaf.
1805. Trans. Soc. Arts, XXIII. 51. He purchased a straw-chopper, that the horses corn might be mixed with straw.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. V. ix. After all that straw-burning, fire-pumping, and deluge of musketry.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 196. Straw-cutters are of very various construction. Ibid. Straw-cutting machines.
1869. Spons’ Dict. Engin., I. 229. The straw-shaker [in a threshing machine] should pass the straw at the rate of 75 to 80 ft. a-minute.
1884. J. Scott, Barn Implem. (1885), 145. The ‘Straw-Elevator,’ driven in connection with the threshing-machine.
1891. C. Roberts, Adrift Amer., 23. The straw carrier of the thrashing machine.
c. instrumental and parasynthetic, as straw-built, -crowned, -roofed, -stuffed, -thatched ppl. adjs.
1577. Harrison, England, III. i. 96/1, in Holinshed. In some places it [malt] is dryed with woode alone, or strawe alone … but of all the strawe dryed is the most excellent.
1598. Bp. Hall, Sat., IV. ii. 14. So rides he mounted on the market-day Vpon a straw-stu’ft pannell, all the way.
1613. [Standish], New Direct. Planting, 21. Cottages and such like Straw-thatched houses.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 773. Thir [sc. the bees’] Straw-built Cittadel.
1738. P. Whitehead, Manners, 4. ’Midst the mad Mansions of Moor-fields, I’d be A straw-crown’d Monarch, in mock majesty.
1746. J. Warton, Ode to Fancy, 30. Where never human art appear’d, Nor ev’n one straw-rooft cott was rear’d.
1750. Gray, Elegy, 18. The swallow twitt’ring from the straw-built shed.
1820. Keats, Cap & Bells, xxix. Many as bees about a straw-capp’d hive.
1824. Campbell, Theodric, 501. Till reaching home, terrific omen! there The straw-laid street preluded his dispair.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xlii. Had he been inspecting a wooden statue or a straw-embowelled Guy Fawkes.
1899. Howells, Ragged Lady, 286. The tubes of straw-barreled Virginia cigars.
14. Special comb.: straw bail (see quots.); † straw-bait = straw-worm; straw-bed, (a) a bed or mattress filled with straw, a paillasse; (b) = straw-ride a; straw bid, bidder U.S. (see quot.); straw-board, coarse yellow millboard made from straw pulp, used for making boxes, book-covers, etc.; straw bond U.S. (see quot. and cf. straw bail); straw boots dial., wisps of straw tied round the feet and legs; hence as a nickname for the 7th Dragoon Guards; straw braid = straw-plait; † straw-burn v. trans., to fertilize (land) by burning straw upon it; hence † straw-burning vbl. sb.; straw cat, the pampas cat (Cent. Dict., 1891); † straw coat, a coat trimmed with straw; straw cotton (see quot.); strae-dead a. Sc. (cf. ON. strádauða), quite dead; straw-death, Sc. strae- [cf. Norw. straadaude, Da. straadød], a natural death in one’s bed; † straw deer, an alleged name for the hare; † straw-device, a worthless or harmless device; straw-drain, a drain filled with straw (Webster, 1828–32); straw-driver, ? one who practises horses on a straw-ride; straw-dynamite (see quot.); straw embroidery (see quot. 1882); straw-fiddle, a xylophone in which the wooden bars are supported on rolls of twisted straw; straw-fork, a pitchfork; straw-knife, a knife used for cutting and splitting straw; straw-laths, pl. the laths on which straw is fastened in thatching; straw-like a., resembling straw; fig. light or worthless as straw; straw-man, (a) a figure of a man made of straw; (b) U.S. a ‘man of straw’ (Webster, 1911); straw-mote dial., a single stalk of straw; straw-necked a., having straw-like feathers on the neck; designating an Australian ibis (see quot.); straw-needle, a long thin needle used for sewing together straw braids (Cent. Dict.); cf. 10 c; straw paper, paper made from straw bleached and pulped; straw plait, plat, a plait or braid made of straw, used for making straw hats, etc.; hence straw-plaiter; straw-plaiting vbl. sb. and gerund; also concr., an article made of straw plait; straw ride, (a) a track laid with straw on which horses are exercised in winter; (b) U.S. ‘a pleasure-ride in the country, taken in a long wagon or sleigh filled with straw, upon which the party sit’ (Cent. Dict.); straw ring, a ring of plaited straw used to support a round-bottomed vessel in an upright position; straw rope, a rope made of twisted straw, used e.g., to secure thatching; also attrib.; † straw-shoe, a name given to a hanger-on of the law-courts (to be known from his having a straw sticking out of his shoe) who was prepared to swear to anything wanted; straw-splitter, one who makes over-nice distinctions, a quibbler; similarly straw-splitting vbl. sb. and ppl. a. (see SPLIT v. 5 b and cf. HAIR-SPLITTER, -SPLITTING); straw-stem, a wine-glass stem pulled out of the substance of the bowl; hence, a wine-glass having such a stem (Cent. Dict.); straw vote U.S., an unofficial vote taken in order to indicate the relative strength of opposing candidates or issues; straw wine, a luscious wine made from grapes dried or partly dried in the sun on straw; straw wisp, a small bundle or twist of straw; also fig.; hence straw-wisped a., enwreathed with a straw wisp; † straw woad, some variety of woad; straw-work, work done in plaited straw; straw-worm, the caddis-worm; straw-yellow sb. and a. = STRAW-COLOUR, -COLOURED. Also STRAW YARD.
1853. N. & Q., Ser. I. VII. 86/1. *Straw bail is, I believe, a term still used by attorneys to distinguish insufficient bail from ‘justifiable’ or sufficient bail.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 455. Straw bail, worthless bail; bail given by men of straw, i. e. persons who pretend to the possession of property, but have none.
1632. G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., XV. Notes 520. So Cod-bates, and *Straw-bates which ly vnder water [turn] into May-flies.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 247/1. Culcita stramentitia,… a *straw bed, or pad of straw.
1671. Woodhead, St. Teresa, II. 263. The Straw-bed, the ordinary Bed of the Discalced.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, II. I. ix. 352/1. Some [colts] being at once physicked, and exercised afterwards upon straw-beds, &c.
1889. Farmer, Americanisms, *Straw bid, a worthless bid; one not intended to be taken up.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Straw-board.
1881. Greener, Gun, 409. In the said slots were placed sheets of straw-board of uniform texture and thickness.
1889. Century Dict., s.v. Bond, *Straw bond, a bond upon which either fictitious names or the names of persons unable to pay the sum guaranteed are written as names of sureties.
1715. trans. C’tess D’Anois’ Wks., 493. Admiral Sharp-Cap dispatcht away John Prattle-Box, Courier in Ordinary of the Closet, with his *Straw-Boots [botté de paille] to inform the King.
1832. D. Vedder, Orcadian Sk., Poems, etc. (1878), 298. His legs were completely enveloped in twisted straw, generally known by the name of ‘strae boots.’
1879. All the Year Round, 5 April, 370/1. The Seventh [Dragoon Guards] has been known indifferently as the Black Horse,… and as the Virgin Mary’s Guard; but its more popular pseudonym is the Straw Boots.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2417/1. The Leghorn, or Italian *straw-braid.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 463/2. Straw Braids are made in very long lengths, and are sewn together by means of long thin Needles, called Straws.
1799. A. Young, Agric. Lincoln., 267. He *straw-burnt a piece in the middle of a field preparing for turnips. Ibid., 268. This *straw-burning husbandry I found again at Belesby.
1783. European Mag., March, 190/1. Paillasses, or *straw-coats, are very much in use.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 464. *Straw Cotton … is a wiry kind of thread, starched and stiff,… exclusively made for use in the manufacture of straw goods.
1820. Glenfergus, xviii. II. 218. Gin ye dinna haste ye, doakter,… it may be *strae dead afore ye come on till ’t.
1785. Burns, Dr. Hornbook, xxv. Whare I kill’d ane, a fair *strae-death, By loss o’ blood, or want o’ breath.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., iv. Dead is he, a bed-death,… A straw-death, a cow’s-death.
1868. G. Macdonald, R. Falconer, I. xxiii. 305. She’s gane, an’ no by a fair strae-deith (death on one’s own straw) either.
a. 1315. Names of Hare, in Rel. Ant., I. 133. The *strauder, the lekere.
1599. B. Jonson, Cynthia’s Rev., III. ii. (1601), F 1 b. As if I knew not how to entertaine These *Straw-deuises.
1828. Sporting Mag., XXII. 183. Mr. Darvill … commenced life as a *straw-driver in a country racing stable.
1889. Cundill, Dict. Explosives, 61. *Straw Dynamite is a mixture of nitro-glycerine with nitro-cellulose made from straw.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4432. *Straw embroidery.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 464. Straw Embroidery … consists in tacking upon black Brussels silk net or yellow coloured net, leaves, flowers, corn, butterflies, &c. that are stamped out of straw, and connecting these with thick lines made of yellow filoselle.
1867. Tyndall, Sound, iv. 137. Instead of using the cord, the bars may rest at their nodes on cylinders of twisted straw; hence the name *straw-fiddle sometines applied to this instrument.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 35. Flaile, *strawforke and rake.
1858. Slight & Burn, Farm Implem., 479. The straw-fork … has rather longer prongs.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 6527. Chaff machine knives, and *straw knives.
1391. Mem. Ripon (Surtees), III. 107. Et in cc *stralates [printed stralanes] emp. pro domo in tenura Joh. Knygth, 16d.
1433–4. in Fabric Rolls York Minster (Surtees), 54. In m.ccc strelattes emptis pro grangia decimali ibidem reparanda, 6s. 6d.
1485. Nottingham Rec., III. 231, vij. bonches of stree lattes.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., II. 78. He loudly pleads The *straw-like trifles, on life’s common stream.
1848. Gould, Birds Australia, VI. Pl. 45. The shafts of the feathers are produced into long lanceolate straw-like and straw-coloured processes.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 567. A scarre-crowe to make them afraide, as wee vse to deale with little children and with birdes by puppets and *strawe-men.
1890. Frazer, Golden Bough, II. 247. Sometimes a straw man was burned in the ‘hut.’
1747. *Straw-Motes [see MOTE sb.1 4].
1874. Hardy, Far fr. Mad. Crowd, lii. Then Gabe brought her some of the new cider, and she must needs go drinking it through a straw-mote.
1848. Gould, Birds Australia, VI. PI. 45. Geronticus [or Carphibis] spinicollis. *Straw-necked Ibis.
1854. Househ. Words, IX. 86/2. A secret mode of making *straw-paper.
1862. Miss Yonge, C’tess Kate, i. Forgetting everything in the interest of her drawing on a large sheet of straw paper.
1800. Repert. Arts, etc. (1801), XV. 19. A new and improved Manufacture of *Straw-Plat, made of split Straw.
1842. S. C. Hall, Ireland, II. 164. The manufacture of straw-plait is to be found in every house.
1846. Mrs. Gore, Eng. Char. (1852), 68. The hereditary race of *straw-plaiters.
1834. McCulloch, Dict. Comm. (1844), s.v., Hats, The wives and daughters of the farmers used to plait straw for making their own bonnets, before *straw-plaiting became established as a manufacture.
1849. Lytton, Caxtons, II. ii. He would stand an hour at a cottage door, admiring the little girls who were straw-platting.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., Brit., II. No. 4849. Straw plaitings, straw hats and bonnets.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, II. I. x. 357/1. The *straw-ride is generally made by using the long litter of the stable laid down round a large paddock.
1881. Du Chaillu, Land of Midnight Sun, II. 434. A custom which reminded me of the ‘straw ride’ parties common in the rural districts of the United States.
1895. Outing, XXVI. 408/1. Invitations to sailing parties, straw rides or picnics.
1641. French, Distill., i. (1651), 41. The lower gourd or recipient set upon *straw-rings.
1763. ‘Theophilus Insulanus,’ Second Sight, 9. As he was going out of his house on a morning, he put on *straw-rope garters instead of those he formerly used.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VII. iii. See Pichegru’s soldiers, this hard winter,… in their ‘straw-rope shoes and cloaks of bast-mat.’
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 11. Assorted straw … is put … thick above the turnips for thatch, and kept down by means of straw-ropes.
1826. Q. Rev., XXXIII. 344. We have all heard of a race of men, who used in former days to ply about our own courts of law, and who, from their manner of making known their occupation, were recognized by the name of *Straw-shoes. An advocate or lawyer, who wanted a convenient witness, knew by these signs where to meet with one,… ‘Then come into court and swear it?’ And Straw-shoe went into the court and swore it.
1844. Smyth, Cycle Celestial Obj., I. 384, note. A certain straight-laced *straw-splitter objects to the terms rising and setting, as being highly improper when applied to fixed points.
1828. Pusey, Hist. Enq., I. 16. The endless *straw-splittings of the schoolmen. Ibid., 35. Abounding … in straw-splitting distinctions.
1881. Morley, Cobden, xxxi. II. 323. They were wasting time in mere strawsplitting.
1854. G. W. Curtis, Potiphar Papers, ii. (1866), 55. A dozen of the delicately-engraved *straw-stems that stood upon the waiter.
1891. Century Dict., *Straw vote.
1906. Daily Chron., 24 Oct., 4/5. ‘Straw’ votes, which have recently been taken in the New York State campaign, indicate that Mr. Hearst will be badly beaten.
1824. A. Henderson, Hist. Anc. & Mod. Wines, 172. The liquor … receives the name of *straw wine (vin de paille).
1833. Redding, Mod. Wines, vii. 208. Straw wines are made in Franconia.
1508. Dunbar, Flyting, 213. *Stra wispis hingis owt.
a. 1678. in Evelyn’s Pomona, 407. Instead of the straw-wisp, a Basket may be fitted, which with a little straw within will keep the Fruit in better order.
a. 1761. [S. Haliburton & Hepburn], Mem. Magopico, v. (ed. 2), 18. The man is … a plain undesigning nose o’wax, a cat’s paw, a straw-wisp.
1861. Mrs. H. Wood, East Lynne, I. iv. In spite of his smock frock, his *straw-wisped hat, and his false whiskers,… she knew him for her brother.
1612. Sc. Bk. Customs, in Halyburton’s Ledger (1867), 332. Woad called Iland grene woad or stra woad the tun 1cxx li.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 1646. (Milan), They have curious *straw worke among the nunns, even to admiration.
1798. Monthly Mag., June, 429. The principal manufacture is straw-work … which is confined to about six or eight miles round Dunstable.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 463. Cabinets, boxes, and cardcases … decorated with a covering of coloured Straw-work, much resembling Mosaic work.
1653. Walton, Angler, xii. 232. There is also another Cadis called by some a *Straw-worm.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 29. *Straw yellow.
1831. Brewster, Nat. Magic, xxxiv. (1833), 285. The finest varieties … transmit a straw-yellow tint.
1843. Portlock, Geol., 214. From yellowish-brown to rich straw yellow.
b. In book-names of certain moths, with reference to their color (see quots.).
1775. M. Harris, Engl. Lepidoptera, 45. Phalæna … 310 Straw, clouded.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 427. Botys cespitalis. The Straw-barred.
1832. Rennie, Butterfl. & Moths, 49. The Straw Underwing … appears about June. Ibid., 116. The Straw Belle. Ibid., 188. The Dingy Straw (Depressaria costosa). Ibid., 193. The Dingy Straw (Recurvaria Silacella).
1869. E. Newman, Brit. Moths, 98. The Straw Belle (Aspilates gilvaria). Ibid., 295. The Straw Under-wing (Cerigo Cytherea).
