American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition - n. A game played with a pile of straws or thin sticks,
with the players attempting in turn to remove a single stick
without disturbing the others. - n. One of the straws or sticks
used in this game. Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia - n. A
figure or effigy of a man made of straw; hence, a man without
any substance or means; a dependent. Also jack of straw. - n.
One of a set of straws or strips of ivory, wood, bone, or the
like, used in a children's game. The jack straws are thrown
confusedly together on a table, and are to be gathered up singly
by the hand, sometimes with the aid of a hooked Instrument,
without joggling or disturbing the rest of the pile. - n. plural
The game thus played. - n. [capitalized] In English history, a
name assumed by rick-burners and destroyers of machines during
the early years of the nineteenth century. - n. The whitethroat,
Sylvia cinerea, also called winnell-straw, from the straw used
in making its nest. Se