straw (strô) n. Stalks of threshed grain, used as bedding and food for animals, for thatching, and for weaving or braiding, as into baskets. A single stalk of threshed grain. Something of minimal value or importance. Something with too little substance to provide support in a crisis: Near the end we were grasping at straws.
Something, such as a hat or basket, made of straw. A slender tube used for sucking up a liquid. Something of minimal value or importance. Something with too little substance to provide support in a crisis: Near the end we were grasping at straws.
adj. Of, relating to, or made of straw: a straw mat. Containing or used for straw, as a barn or feeding trough. Of the color of straw; yellowish. Having little or no value or substance; unimportant. Of, relating to, or constituting a straw man.
[Middle English, from Old English strēaw; see ster-2 in Indo-European roots.] straw'y adj. |