straw, strawe, stre, stree

& a. [A. S. streaw, streow, stred; cogn. with Dut. stroo; Icel. strá; Dan.straa: Sw.str a; O. H. Ger. strou; Ger. str oh; Lat. stramen = straw; struo to heap up.] [STREW.] A. As substantive: I. Ordinary Language: 1. Literally: (1) The stalk or stem of certain species of grain, pulse, ., especially of wheat, rye, oats, barley and pease; it is principally used for plaiting, thatching, paper-making, and litter. (2) A piece of such a stalk or stem. "When shepherds pipe on oaten straws." Shakesp.: Love's Labor's Lost, v. 2. (3) A bundle or ma of the stalks of certain species of grain when cut and after being thrashed; as, a load of straw . (In this sense the word does not admit of a plural.) 2. Fig .: Used proverbially for anything worthle or of no account; a fig, a jot. "And when that they ben accompliced, yet ben they not worth a stre. '-Chaucer: Tale of Melibeus. II. Technically : 1. Bot .: Linnæus' name for the culm or stem of gra es. 2. Mining : A fine straw filled with powder, and used as a fuse. B. As adj .: Made, plaited, or composed of straw; as, a straw bed, a straw bonnet, a straw hat, . (1) A man of straw: The figure of a man formed of a suit of old clothes stuffed with straw; hence, the mere resemblance of a man; one of no substance or means; an imaginary person. (2) In the straw : Lying-in, as a mother; in child bed. "Although, by the vulgar popular saw, All mothers are said to be in the straw, Some children are born in clover." Hood: Mi Kilmansegg. Fuller (Worthies: Lincoln) says that "this shows feather-beds English plain proverb to be of no ancient use among the common sort of our nation." Burgoyne ( Heire , i. 1) suggests that it arose from the practice of laying down straw before the houses of persons who were ill. *(3) To break a straw : To quarrel. *(4) To lay a straw : To panse. Straw is commonly used in compounds, most of which are self-explanatory: as, straw -roofed, straw stuffed, . straw-bail, subst. Bail given by an impecunious straw-belle, s. Entom.: A European geometer moth, Aspilates gilvaria . The caterpillar feeds on the yarrow. IMG:content-0397.png:[blocks in formation] A house or shed for holding straw after the grain has been thrashed out. straw-paper, s. Paper made wholly or principally from straw.