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# straw

«straw» in Mova's school dictionary: **the dry yellow stalks of plants like wheat, used for…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (straw, straws)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Straw is the dry yellow stalks of plants like wheat, used for animal beds or to make hats and baskets. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#m1)

2) A straw is a thin tube for drinking. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#m2)

3) «The last straw» is the last small problem that makes you lose patience. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#m3)

4) To draw straws is to choose by picking from straws of different lengths. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#m4)

### sense in the lessons

Maths: drinking straws counted in packs; bales of straw on a farm. Farming: straw for bedding, hay for food. Environment: plastic straws harm sea life; use paper or reusable ones. Stories: the three little pigs built a house of straw.

### examples

- A box has 100 straws. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x1)
- Each child used 2 straws. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x2)
- The farmer has 30 bales of straw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x3)
- She bought 4 packs of 25 straws. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x4)
- The first little pig built his house of straw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x5)
- The horse sleeps on a bed of straw. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x6)
- Paper straws are better for the ocean than plastic ones. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x7)
- We drew straws to see who would go first. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x8)
- Soon the straw hut was ready. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/#x9)

### note

Countable for drinking straws (a straw, straws); uncountable for the farm material (some straw, a bale of straw). The thing counted, often in packs or bales; «packs of 25» means multiply. Trap: straw (dry stalks for bedding) is not hay (dried grass for food).

### In the corpora

- [Gorillas and other great apes build a new nest of leaves and branches every night, or of straw in a zoo.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/84-ape-house-gorillas-and-chimpanzees/14/)
- [A straw in water looks bent because light changes direction as it passes from water to air (refraction).](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/4/)
- [A straw in water looks bent because light changes direction as it passes from water to air; this is called refraction.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/280-illusions-and-adverts/16/)
- [Pee colour is a simple check: pale straw means you've drunk enough, and dark yellow often means you need more water.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/51-water-fizzy-drinks-and-sports-drinks/6/)
- [On the Moon, where there is no air, drinking through a straw would not work at all.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/14-the-air-presses-on-everything/9/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «straw» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/straw/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.