straw
Word family adjectivestrawenstrawlessstrawlikestrawystraw-colourednounstrawboardstrawflowerstraw pollstrawwormstraw
Plants, Drink, Crops
straw /strɔː $ strɒː/ ●●○ S3 noun 
1 a) [uncountableU]HBPTA the dried stems of wheat or similar plants that animals sleep on, and that are used for making things such as baskets, hats etc 〔干的〕麦秆，稻草，禾秆 → hay
a straw hat
草帽
b) [countableC]HBP a single dried stem of straw 〔单根的〕麦秆，稻草秆
2 
[countableC]DFD a thin tube of paper or plastic for sucking up liquid from a bottle or a cup 〔喝饮料用的〕吸管
[countableC]DFD a thin tube of paper or plastic for sucking up liquid from a bottle or a cup 〔喝饮料用的〕吸管 She sipped her lemonade through a straw.
她用吸管吸着柠檬水。
3 the last straw (also the straw that breaks the camel’s back)LAST the last problem in a series of problems that finally makes you give up, get angry etc 压垮骆驼的最后一根稻草，〔一系列问题中〕最终使人无法承受的事，终于使人不堪重负的因素
Making me work late on Friday was the last straw.
要我周五加班到很晚终于让我不堪忍受了。
Examples from the Corpus
the last straw• And they felt that the pressures of her work had been the last straw.• My getting this malignancy is the last straw, in her opinion.• Sending in bailiffs was the last straw.• Making me work late on a Friday was the last straw!• For some reason that Jinny did not quite understand, it was the last straw.• Suzy lying to me about the money was the last straw.• Recruitment of 40 top staff was the last straw.• For some, the effort to silence Zundel was the last straw.• Mr Brown said the planned charges were the last straw for customers already angry over banks' high-handed attitude.• His electoral thefts were the last straw.
4. be clutching/grasping at straws to be trying everything you can to succeed, even though the things you are doing are not likely to help or work 〔在危难中〕抓救命稻草，不放过任何微小的机会
Examples from the Corpus
be clutching/grasping at straws• Green ponds should not be a problem now, but come next summer, you may be clutching at straws.
5 straw in the wind British EnglishBrEPREDICT a sign of what might happen in the future 〔未来事态的〕迹象，征兆，苗头
There have been a few straws in the wind suggesting things might be getting a little better.
已经有些迹象表明情况可能会稍稍好转。
Examples from the Corpus
straw in the wind• A final straw in the wind may be Tolkien's increasing desire to pull strands together.• There were other straws in the wind.• These various statements amounted to straws in the wind rather than a fully defined policy for ending the war.• But even before 1947 there were straws in the wind.
6. straw man American EnglishAmEBEAT/DEFEAT a weak opponent or imaginary argument that can easily be defeated 稻草人；不堪一击的对手；不值一驳的虚妄论点
→ draw the short straw at draw1(29)Examples from the Corpus
straw man• And, like Sir Geoffrey and Mr Heseltine, he routinely sets up federalism as a straw man to knock down.• Whether Lorenz's critics were firing a straw man is unimportant.• The creationist position in the Origin is never merely a straw man to be knocked down.• The half-hour show uses these to the fullest, setting up straw man after straw man for Daria to demolish.
Examples from the Corpus
straw• Have her seal a straw in another bag in the same way you did the first one.• It is looking at using other products, such as straw, to help make Yellow Page directories.• A regular item was the purchase of carrots, straw, oats etc. for the animals.• A piece of straw drifted to the ground.• The boats are made mostly of rice straw, woven and bound together.• At the point where the air and water meet, the straw appears to bend.• If you use straw as bedding for farm animals, generally speaking you improve the welfare of those animals.• They include using straw to make compost, paper ... and even chocolate cake.
Old English streaw