B1

straw English

Learners of English as a second language usually know the word straw once they have reached the level B1 – Lower Intermediate. English words by learner level A1 A2 B1 B2 C1 C2

Meaning straw meaning

What does straw mean?

Definitions in simple English

straw Noun

— Straw is dried grasses, such as wheat, without the seeds. Animals sleep on it, and people make hats and mats out of it.

— A pale, yellowish-beige colour, like that of a dried straw.

— A straw is a thin hollow tube that you drink through.

straw

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

— noun (= chaff) material consisting of seed coverings and small pieces of stem or leaves that have been separated from the seeds

— adjective of a pale yellow color like straw; straw-colored

— verb cover or provide with or as if with straw cows were strawed to weather the snowstorm

— noun a thin paper or plastic tube used to suck liquids into the mouth

— noun (= pale yellow) a variable yellow tint; dull yellow, often diluted with white

— verb (= strew) spread by scattering ( is archaic) straw strew toys all over the carpet

Synonyms straw synonyms

What other words have the same or similar meaning as straw?

straw English » English

hay

grass

thatch

husk

haulm

chaff

stubble

strew

stalk

drinking straw

shuck

wheat

rice straw

pale yellow

cane

bestrew

yellowish

worthless

wild

whistle

weed

untamed

tube

thatching grass

tallgrass

straw-colored

straw hat

stipe

stem

sprinkle

splinter

siren

scape

reed

pipe

pennywhistle

mattress

made of straw

horn

herbs

glume

fodder

fife

dust

dry grass

dry

dot

culm

chips

bespangle

Topics straw topics

What do people use straw to talk about?

Universe, creation Plant

Parts of a plant

• What are the parts of grass?
  stem stalk blade of grass straw
• What words are used of plants when they have been cut down?
  log stump grass trimmings compost pile of leaves straw hay

Work and occupation Working with buildings

Building materials

• What kinds of materials are used for bricks?
  mud clay cement straw mortar sun-dried burned fired kiln-dried
• What materials are used to make a roof?
  roofing material tile roof tile tin roof tin sheet shingle wooden shingle asphalt shingle shake thatched roof thatch grass roof grass straw palm leaf sod canvas (tent)

Work and occupation Working with buildings Parts of a building

Floor

• What do people cover their floors with?
  carpet carpeted rug throw rug floor mat rushes straw mat

States Quality Light Color

Colors of the spectrum

• What are the shades of yellow?
  yellow amber banana blond blonde canary chartreuse chrome yellow citron cream flaxen gold golden goldilocks jaundice lemon saffron sallow straw-colored sulfur tawny terra cotta yellow ocher xanthous

States Time Relative time Order, sequence

Last

• What words indicate that a person or thing is the last in a list or line or group?
  be last come last finish last bring up the rear straggler be the last straw

Examples straw examples

How do I use straw in a sentence?

Simple sentences

A drowning man will clutch at a straw.

This is the last straw!

They filled them with straw to make them round and hard.

That's the last straw!

You can see this easily if you put a straw into a glass of water.

That straw catches fire easily.

He'll clutch at any straw.

I got the short straw.

You cannot make bricks without straw.

A drowning man will catch at a straw.

That's the last straw.

This is the last straw.

Holy bag of straw!

A man of straw is worth a woman of gold.

It was bad enough that he usually came to work late, but coming in drunk was the last straw, and I'm going to have to let him go.

It is the last straw that breaks the camel's back.

The last straw breaks the camel's back.

I am very much attached to this old straw hat.

You can't make bricks without straw.

Movie subtitles

We draw a fourth card, five of which are blank, the sixth reads murderer - the short straw, if you will.

When there's a straw going, you catch it.

This is the last straw.

THAT'S THE LAST STRAW!

MRS. TEASDALE, THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!

He's in there under a pile of straw, sir.

Is it a see-through breathing tube? Is it a straw?

You were wearing a thin dress with miles of ruffles a large straw hat, an embroidered shawl, a single bracelet and heavy, gold chain and, of course, the camellias at your waist.

Well, your head aint made of straw, you know.

Only straw.

Animals that eat straw?

Its bad enough picking on a straw man, but picking on little dogs.

That's the last straw.

Well, that was the last straw.

This is the straw that broke the camel's back.

That's the last straw!

This is the last straw!

It will be easier for you to scream without a straw in your mouth.

That is the final straw.

Now, our president says we've had enough trouble in Europe as it is, and he wonders if you would be kind enough to look at a selection of straw hats?

How about a straw hat, monsieur?

Well, your head ain't made of straw, you know.

Every straw vote every independent poll shows that I will be elected.

Last time I saw, you looked like something stuffed with straw.

I can't leave her. Get one like this sample of Italian straw.

I had an Italian straw hat but I sold it. A very rare one!

An Italian straw hat for my niece.

A straw hat is best in this heat.

But this is the last straw!

She'll be seated at a drug store counter, a very pretty girl, with a straw in her mouth, and she'll be drinking a soda.

Now, instead of having her straw stuck in a soda, it'll be stuck in a sloppy can of paint.

Well, Mr. Paper-reader, why don't you drink your soup with a straw?

Jane, this is the last straw.

I haven't got a brain. Only straw.

News and current affairs

If Pakistan's history is any indicator, his decision to impose martial law may prove to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel's back.

Cottages with TV satellite antennas may be seen, but they will be surrounded by straw, mud, chopped wood and the aromatic stench of livestock.

Coming so shortly on the heels of the subprime crisis, the debate over the debt ceiling and the budget deficit is the last straw.

An instructive example of the cosmopolitanism bargain came in 2006, when Great Britain's former foreign minister, Jack Straw, raised concerns about the nijab, the full-head covering worn by some Muslim women.

Straw defended women's right to wear less intrusive headscarves; yet he also argued that something is seriously wrong when, in conversation with another person, one cannot engage in face-to-face interaction.

Straw was saying that to wear the nijab is a decision to close yourself off from everyone around you.

Instead, through a carefully chosen example, Straw was illustrating what it means to be open to others while expecting openness in return.

Some argued that, in suggesting to Muslim women what they should wear, Straw was interfering with religious freedom.

Fortunately, Straw's example does not pose such a sharp dilemma.

Before they give birth, sows use straw or leaves and twigs to build a comfortable and safe nest in which to nurse their litter.

They lie on bare concrete without straw or any other form of bedding.

The Last Straw for Zimbabwe?

The Guardian Council's barring of over 2,000 mostly reformist candidates from participating in the parliamentary elections was the last straw.

Currency movements, however, were merely the straw that broke the camel's back.

Britain's Last EU Straw?

Europe's Last Straw?

But the final straw was America's support for the recent interim agreement on Iran's nuclear program.

The young couple - he with a beard and she in a sundress and rubber boots - are homesteading in the Hudson River Valley with a flock of chickens, or in New Mexico in an ecofriendly straw-bale house.

The last straw was the blatant falsification of December's parliamentary elections, which reinforced citizens' sense that the regime regards them with contempt.