STRAW

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does straw mean? 

• STRAW (noun)
  The noun STRAW has 4 senses:

1. plant fiber used e.g. for making baskets and hats or as fodder

2. material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds

3. a variable yellow tint; dull yellow, often diluted with white

4. a thin paper or plastic tube used to suck liquids into the mouth

  Familiarity information: STRAW used as a noun is uncommon.

• STRAW (adjective)
  The adjective STRAW has 1 sense:

1. of a pale yellow color like straw; straw-colored

  Familiarity information: STRAW used as an adjective is very rare.

• STRAW (verb)
  The verb STRAW has 2 senses:

1. cover or provide with or as if with straw

2. spread by scattering (

  Familiarity information: STRAW used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• STRAW (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Plant fiber used e.g. for making baskets and hats or as fodder

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("straw" is a kind of...):

plant fiber; plant fibre (fiber derived from plants)

Holonyms ("straw" is a substance of...):

cushioning; padding (artifact consisting of soft or resilient material used to fill or give shape or protect or add comfort)

Derivation:

straw (cover or provide with or as if with straw)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

chaff; husk; shuck; stalk; straw; stubble

Hypernyms ("straw" is a kind of...):

plant material; plant substance (material derived from plants)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "straw"):

bran (broken husks of the seeds of cereal grains that are separated from the flour by sifting)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A variable yellow tint; dull yellow, often diluted with white

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

pale yellow; straw; wheat

Hypernyms ("straw" is a kind of...):

yellow; yellowness (yellow color or pigment; the chromatic color resembling the hue of sunflowers or ripe lemons)

Derivation:

straw (of a pale yellow color like straw; straw-colored)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A thin paper or plastic tube used to suck liquids into the mouth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

drinking straw; straw

Hypernyms ("straw" is a kind of...):

tube; tubing (conduit consisting of a long hollow object (usually cylindrical) used to hold and conduct objects or liquids or gases)

• STRAW (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of a pale yellow color like straw; straw-colored

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

Derivation:

straw (a variable yellow tint; dull yellow, often diluted with white)

• STRAW (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover or provide with or as if with straw

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

cows were strawed to weather the snowstorm

Hypernyms (to "straw" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

straw (plant fiber used e.g. for making baskets and hats or as fodder)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spread by scattering (

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

straw; strew

Context example:

strew toys all over the carpet

Hypernyms (to "straw" is one way to...):

distribute; spread (distribute or disperse widely)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "straw"):

bestrew (cover by strewing)

litter (make a place messy by strewing garbage around)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

 Context examples 

The straw, however, began to burn, broke in two pieces, and fell into the stream.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Having travelled about three miles, we came to a long kind of building, made of timber stuck in the ground, and wattled across; the roof was low and covered with straw.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Ah, poor old chap, he clings to any straw!

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

That he be all in black, except that he have a hat of straw which suit not him or the time.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Put the straw on the floor here, free from the wall on either side.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

"I am going to the Great Oz to ask him to give me some," remarked the Scarecrow, "for my head is stuffed with straw."

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

I am a straw upon the surface of the deep, and am tossed in all directions by the elephants—I beg your pardon; I should have said the elements.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"They grow on this road, Meg, so do combs and brown straw hats."

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Then, overcome by fatigue, I lay down among some straw and fell asleep.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

But Miss Bertram does not care three straws for him; that is your opinion of your intimate friend. I do not subscribe to it.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)