Pronunciation: (strô), [key]
1. a single stalk or stem, esp. of certain species of grain, chiefly wheat, rye, oats, and barley.
2. a mass of such stalks, esp. after drying and threshing, used as fodder.
3. material, fibers, etc., made from such stalks, as used for making hats or baskets.
4. the negligible value of one such stalk; trifle; least bit: not to care a straw.
5. a tube, usually of paper or glass, for sucking up a beverage from a container: to sip lemonade through a straw.
6. anything of possible but dubious help in a desperate circumstance.
7. See straw man (def. 2).
8. a straw hat.
9. catch, clutch, or grasp at a straw, at straws, or at any straw or straws, to seize at any chance, no matter how slight, of saving oneself from calamity.
10. draw straws, to decide by lottery using straws or strawlike items of different lengths, usually with the short straw or straws determining the person chosen or the loser.

1. of, pertaining to, containing, or made of straw: a straw hat.
2. of the color of straw; pale yellow.
3. of little value or consequence; worthless.
4. sham; fictitious.


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