noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
straw poll
straw/cowboy/bowler etc hat
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
final
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That was the final straw for Hall!
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It was the final straw for those requiring some degree of musical consistency from the guy.
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It was the final straw , being trapped like this in her own flat.
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This very nearly was the final straw .
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But for many in the markets, this was the final straw .
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The dark glasses were the final straw as far as my schoolmates were concerned.
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The final straw was when the government put up the price of rice yet again.
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This press conference was the final straw for some officers, including a former Commander-in-Chief, General Challe.
short
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Rose had drawn the short straw , and was thus forced to seek Lord Westbourne clasping the Romanov dagger.
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And the short straw was this fat thick club.
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They both have advantages and they're both vulnerable to the cosmic short straw .
■ NOUN
boater
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Ascot Sunday, and an attentive Edmund - straw boater , white flannels.
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She pictured a straw boater and a bicycle and as her smile spread he abruptly faced her.
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Their clerks, mostly in straw boaters , hurried along.
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Jimmy was bare-headed and Dad wore a straw boater tipped over his eyes.
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Hanging up on the pegs were three or four hats and among them a straw boater .
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She wore a cream linen suit, a black straw boater , and black gloves.
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Removal of the straw boater revealed a head of sleeked-down dark hair - a man's head of hair.
hat
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Little flames were breaking through the brim of Charlie's straw hat .
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Dotty herself was in the garden, a straw hat of gigantic proportions crowning her untidy thatch of hair.
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White straw hat , £9.99, Miss Selfridge.
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She was dressed in a white frock and a round white straw hat .
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Plain straw hat , about £10, Sandra Philips Simple, summery, swinging.
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She was there every single night, a formidable figure in her long, black skirt, cardigan and black straw hat .
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He leaned over her, removed her cheap hatpin and her old straw hat .
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Mainly because of their vests and straw hats that were very narrow and turned up all around.
man
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Whether Lorenz's critics were firing a straw man is unimportant.
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The creationist position in the Origin is never merely a straw man to be knocked down.
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And, like Sir Geoffrey and Mr Heseltine, he routinely sets up federalism as a straw man to knock down.
mattress
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Then, pocketing the money, she placed the box back underneath the straw mattress and rolled Granny on to her back again.
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Isabel bounced once against the plump straw mattress , then made a frantic bid for freedom.
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At first it was pleasant to lie back on the straw mattress and relax.
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It was an iron bed with two folded blankets on it and a thin straw mattress .
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There was a new straw mattress and brass bedsteads on which the morning sun glittered like gold.
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If the straw mattress was an inch out of line with the plank bed base, his food was reduced by one meal.
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Then they laid her back on the straw mattress and covered her with a sheet.
poll
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It is a straw poll but our analysis suggests these problems are widespread.
■ VERB
break
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That was the straw which broke the camel's back and in the following 16 minutes United's game fell apart.
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It was probably the straw that broke the camel's back.
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The last straw that breaks the camel's back is indeed the proximate cause of that misfortune.
clutch
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Burrows, now clutching at straws , looked into it and became more and more interested in the actor.
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Green ponds should not be a problem now, but come next summer, you may be clutching at straws .
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In this context of impending war, Nizan began clutching at straws .
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But if that was what Adams wanted, well, he was willing to clutch at any straw .
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And as they get ready for the Big One, the title decider, the lads will clutch at every available straw .
draw
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Rose had drawn the short straw , and was thus forced to seek Lord Westbourne clasping the Romanov dagger.
grasp
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But sometimes you grasp at straws .
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For now, researchers admit that they are still grasping at straws .
stuff
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Then she had been lying in the nursery rocking chair as stuffed with straw as Andy and Teddy were full of beans.
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I am only a Scarecrow, stuffed with straw .
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The Scarecrow stuffed himself with fresh straw and Dorothy put new paint on his eyes that he might see better.
wear
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Buster Keaton would never have worn a straw hat, he stresses, and London is scoured for a felt one.
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Tell Louella to wear her new straw .
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The demonic figures wearing ugly masks and straw and brushwood clothes are intended to scare away evil spirits.
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She wore a large white straw hat and looked as if she'd just been to church.
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She was still wearing the ugly straw that she had put on for morning church.
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Jimmy was bare-headed and Dad wore a straw boater tipped over his eyes.
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Eleanor wore a pretty straw hat.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
be clutching at straws
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Green ponds should not be a problem now, but come next summer, you may be clutching at straws.
be the last straw
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For Amy this was the last straw.
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For some reason that Jinny did not quite understand, it was the last straw.
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For some, the effort to silence Zundel was the last straw.
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His electoral thefts were the last straw.
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Mr Brown said the planned charges were the last straw for customers already angry over banks' high-handed attitude.
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My getting this malignancy is the last straw, in her opinion.
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Sending in bailiffs was the last straw.
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Transport pressure groups believe this will be the last straw for some services.
draw lots/straws
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Did you ever draw straws when you were a kid?
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It is a curious turn around from the days when bondholders pleased to be bought out and were driving to drawing lots!
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She took it thoughtfully like some one choosing a straw when drawing lots.
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The players alternate between the white and black pieces and draw lots to determine who plays white in today's first game.
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Then we drew lots to decide the order in which we should improvise, night by night.
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They drew lots to decide which should first seize his lady, and fortune favored Ephialtes.
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They also took turns administering the city-state, drawing lots to settle who would take on which job.
draw the short straw
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I'm only here because I drew the short straw.
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Rose had drawn the short straw, and was thus forced to seek Lord Westbourne clasping the Romanov dagger.
draw/get the short straw
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Rose had drawn the short straw, and was thus forced to seek Lord Westbourne clasping the Romanov dagger.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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A piece of straw drifted to the ground.
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A regular item was the purchase of carrots, straw , oats etc. for the animals.
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At the point where the air and water meet, the straw appears to bend.
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Have her seal a straw in another bag in the same way you did the first one.
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If you use straw as bedding for farm animals, generally speaking you improve the welfare of those animals.
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It is looking at using other products, such as straw , to help make Yellow Page directories.
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The boats are made mostly of rice straw , woven and bound together.
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They include using straw to make compost, paper ... and even chocolate cake.