Pa. t. and pr. pple. strawed (rarely pa. pple. strawn). Obs. exc. arch. Also 4 strauwe. [App. repr. a dial. pronunciation (with rising diphthong) of OE. streawian var. of streowian STREW v.] = STREW v.
1. trans. To scatter, spread loosely; to scatter (rushes, straw, flowers, etc.) on the ground or floor, or over the surface of something; to scatter or sprinkle (something in powder) over a surface.
c. 1200. Ormin, 8193. To strawwenn gode gresess þær, Þatt stunnkenn swiþe swete.
a. 1300. Floriz & Bl. (Camb. MS.), 436. Cupen he let fulle of flures, To strawen in þe maidenes bures.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xlii. (Agatha), 254. Þane bad he Schellis & brynnand cole straw in þe floure.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 207 (Fairf.). I bad hem strawen [v.rr. strawe, strowe(n] floures on my bed.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 12145. Hire blod all aboute aboue hit was sched, And strawet in þe strete, strenklit full þik.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., I. 23. Take pouder Pepir, & Canelle, & straw þer-on.
c. 1440. Sir Eglam., 376. Bryght helmes he fonde strawed wyde, As men of armys had loste ther pryde.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., II. xiv. 230. Now sche berith aischis out, now sche strawith rischis in the halle.
1483. Caxton, Golden Leg., 417/3. Thenne Julyan … dyd doo Strawe Salte on the body.
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxi. 8. Other cut doune braunches from the trees, and strawed [so 1611; 1881 Revised spread; Gr. ἐστρώννυον] them in the waye.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxvii. 354. Aloë made into powder & strawen vpon newe blooddy woundes, stoppeth the blood, and healeth the wounde.
1594. Gd. Huswifes Handmaid Kitchin, 22 b. Take great Raisons and minse them small, and plucke out the kernels, and strawe them in the bottome of your pie.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, cxlix. The affected place being bathed with the decoction thereof, and the powder strawed on afterwards.
1725. Bourne, Antiq. Vulg., iv. 26. That other Custom of strawing Flowers upon the Graves of their departed Friends, is also derived from a Custom of the ancient Church.
1765. A. Dickson, Treat. Agric., III. (ed. 2), 379. The strawing small chaff … on the bottom of the pigeon-house, is very proper.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., Straw, to spread grass, when mown to strew.
1896. Kipling, Seven Seas, 8. We have strawed our best … To the shark and the sheering gull.
† b. With abroad. Obs.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 1 Tim. i. 1–7. In stedde of the sure doctrine of Christ, they strawe abrode vayne smokes & mystes of Jewishe questions.
1576. Foxe, A. & M. (ed. 3), 990/2. After that … the Cardinall, vnderstode these bookes of the Beggars supplication … to be strawne abroade in the streetes of London,… the sayd Cardinall [etc.].
1579–80. North, Plutarch, Solon (1595), 106. Some say, the ashes of his body were after his death strawed abroade through the Ile of Salamina.
c. absol. (The chief modern use, in allusion to Matt. xxv. 24.)
1526. Tindale, Matt. xxv. 24. Which … gadderest where thou strawedst not [1611 where thou hast not strawed (1880 Revised where thou didst not scatter); Gr. διεσκόρπισας].
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. CXII. viii. He gives where needs, nay rather straweth, His justice never ending.
1861. Lowell, Washers of Shroud, 26. Still men and nations reap as they have strawn.
1914. J. K. Graham, Anno Dom., 76. The soul … anticipates an epoch or halcyon splendour when it shall gather where it has strawed.
2. To cover (the ground, a floor, etc.) with something loosely scattered, e.g., rushes, straw, flowers. Now rare or Obs.
13[?]. K. Alis., 1026. With rose, and swete flores, Was strawed [Laud MS. ystrewed] halles, and bouris.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1617. Eche a strete was striked & strawed wiþ floures.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2690. Al þe feldes þoȝte y-strawed of dede men al aboute.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Squire’s T., 606. Though thou … strawe hir cage faire and softe as silk.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 39. Hys hall was yche day of þe ȝere new strawed, yn somer wyth grene rosches, and yn wyntyr wyth clen hay.
1544. Phaër, Pestilence (1553), L vi. It is good in hote time, to straw ye chamber ful of willow leues and other fresh boughes.
1572. Mascall, Plant. & Graff. (1592), 64. The blacke Figges … being dried in the Sunne, and then laied in a vessell in beddes one by an other, & then sprinkled or strawed all ouer, euerie laie with fine Meale.
1587. T. Newton, Herbal for Bible, xvi. 94. With the which [sedge] many in this Countrie do vse in Sommer time to strawe their Parlours, and Churches.
1591. Savile, Tacitus, Hist., IV. i. 169. The streetes were strawed with dead carcases.
1596. Danett, trans. Comines (1614), 304. And gather vp the launces wherewith the place lay strawed.
1631. Weever, Anc. Funeral Mon., 41. Which … hath beene sprinkled with the bloud … and strawne with the ashes, of those blessed Saints.
1650. T. B[ayley], Worcester’s Apoph., 23. We had … laid some loose boards, and strawed the new made floar with rushes.
fig. 1606. Dekker, Seven Sins Lond., Wks. (Grosart), II. 30. Their seruants, wiues and children strawing the way before him with curses.
1676. Baker, in Rigaud, Corr. Sci. Men (1841), II. 2. You have most ingeniously strawed the way for its invention.
† 3. To make or lay (a bed). Also absol. Obs.
13[?]. St. Gregory (Vernon MS.), 574. Þe wyf strauwede [Cotton MS. (older text) strowiþ] him ful soft Þer he in Chaumbre schulde leyn.
1540. Palsgr., Acolastus, III. v. R j b. Commaunde the seruantes to make or straw a bedde. Ibid. Cause … a bryde bed to be strawen for vs.
4. To be strewn or spread upon.
1593. Extracts Munic. Acc. Newcastle (1848), 29. Paide for earbes and rushes which strawde the chapple, 2s.
1896. A. E. Housman, Shropshire Lad, iv. And the tent of night in tatters Straws the sky-pavilioned land.
1898. Wollocombe, From Morn till Eve, i. 8. The green rushes that strawed the hall.
