straw

A thin tube that you use to drink liquid from a glass or other container.

• Can I have a straw?
• She drank her juice through a paper straw.
• We use reusable straws at home.

How to use it: through a straw (He drank his juice through a straw.)

Common phrases: drinking straw, paper straw, reusable straw

Dried stems of grain plants, used for animal beds or for making things.

• The horse slept on straw.
• They covered the floor with fresh straw.
• Farmers stacked bales of straw beside the barn.

Common phrases: bale of straw, straw bedding, dry straw, chopped straw

One dried stem from a grain plant such as wheat.

• He picked up a straw.
• A single straw stuck out of the bale.
• She twisted two straws together between her fingers.

Similar words: stalk

Common phrases: a single straw, a long straw, broken straw

A pale yellow colour with a little brown in it.

• The walls were painted straw.
• Her hair was the colour of straw.
• The fabric ranges from pale straw to deep gold.

Common phrases: pale straw, straw yellow

Made from dried stems of grain plants.

• She wore a straw hat.
• He carried fruit in a straw basket.
• The old house had a straw roof.

Similar words: strawen

Common phrases: straw hat, straw basket, straw roof

Invented but described as real, often so it can easily be attacked or rejected.

• They created a straw enemy.
• His speech attacked a straw opponent rather than our actual position.
• The article builds a straw argument and then rejects it.

Similar words: imaginary, fictitious

Opposites: real

Common phrases: straw enemy, straw opponent, straw argument