straw

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /strɔː/, US /strɑː/, /strɔː/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English strēaw (about 950),^[2][3][4] from *strāwą,^[2][4] cognate with Old Saxon and Old High German strō (German Stroh), Dutch stroo and Old Norse strá.^[2][4][5] It is related to Old English strēowian, to strew, so that straw is apparently “what is scattered”,^[3][2][4] perhaps from dried stalks strewn on a floor as bedding.^[3] The root is shared with Latin sternere, to lay flat.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The dry stalks of grain after threshing: about 950 in Barnhart, about 1000 in the OED.^[2][7] A single stalk is from about 1200.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

As a type of something worthless, straw is attested from the late 13th century.^[3][7] The adjective, made of straw, is from 1442,^[2] which led to the sense false or sham (a straw bid, by 1889).^[3] A straw man was a scarecrow in 1594 and a person of little substance from 1896.^[2] To make bricks without straw alludes to Exodus.^[7] A tube for sucking up a drink is from 1851.^[2][3] Clutch at straws (1748) is what a drowning man proverbially does,^[3][6] the last straw is from 1836,^[3] and a straw vote from 1866 in American English, with straw poll from 1932.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 950 – strēaw.^[2]
• late 13th century – a worthless thing.^[3]
• 1442 – made of straw (adjective).^[2]
• 1594 – straw man, a scarecrow.^[2]
• 1851 – a drinking straw.^[2][3]
• 1866 – straw vote.^[2][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The dry stalks of threshed grain, used for bedding, fodder, thatch and weaving.
2. A single stalk of straw.
3. A thin tube of paper or plastic for drinking through.
4. A thing of little value.

Adjective

1. Made of straw: a straw hat.
2. Pale yellow, like straw.

Word family

• strawy
• strawless
• strawlike
• bedstraw
• strawberry
• straw-hat
• jackstraw
• strawboard

Related words

• strew
• stratum
• street

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press