1564. Udal, Erasmus's Apoph., 68. I prophecie (quoth he) that Plato and Dionysius wil erre many daies to an ende breake a strawe betwene them.
1637. Holland, Camden, 141. But lay a straw here, for in a trifling matter others as well as myselfe may thinke these notes sufficient, if not superfluous.
1662. Fuller, Worthies, 'Lincoln.' Our English plain Proverb de Puerperis, 'they are in the straw,' shows Feather-Beds to be of no ancient use among the common sort of our nation.
1705. Ward, Hud. Rediv., 1. iv. 18. We sipp'd our Fuddle As Women in the straw do Caudle.
1710. Swift, Pol. Conv., iii. Lady Ans. I'm sure 'tis time for all honest folks to go to bed. Miss. Indeed my eyes draw straws. (She's almost asleep.)
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Straw. One eye draws straw, and t'other serves the thatcher.
1786. Burgoyne, Heiress, i. 1. Mrs Blandish. You take care to send to all the lying-in ladies? Prompt. At their doors, madam, before the first load of straw. (Reading his memorandum, as he goes out.) Ladies in the straw, ministers, etc.
1796. Wolcot, Peter Pindar, 213. Their eyelids did not once pick straws, And wink and sink away; No, no, they were as brisk as bees.
1839. Hood, Miss Kilmansegg. Although, by the vulgar popular saw, All mothers are said to be in the straw, Some children are born in clover.
Strawberry, subs. (common).—A
nevus; a birthmark.
c. 1866. Burnand and Sullivan, Box and Cox. Have you a strawberry mark on your left arm? No! Then you are my long lost brother.
TO CUT DOWN AN OAK, AND SET UP A STRAWBERRY, verb. phr. (old).—To waste; cf. Ital. Cavar un chiodo e piantar una cavicchia (= To dig up a nail and plant a pin).
Strawberry-leaves, subs. phr.
(common).—A dukedom: a ducal
coronet is ornamented with eight
strawberry-leaves.
Strawberry-preacher, subs.
phr. (old).—A non-resident; one
who visited his cure only once a
year.
Strawboots, subs. (military).—1.
The 7th Dragoon Guards;
also Old Strawboots, and The
Straws. Also (2) the 7th Hussars.
[Tradition says from these
regiments having been employed
in quelling agricultural riots.]
Straw-chipper, subs. phr. (old).—A
barber; cf. Strummel-faker
and Nob-thatcher.
1823. Moncrieff, Tom. and Jerry, i. 5. Our dashing straw-chippers . . . in Burlington Arcade.
Strawing, subs. (streets').—See
quot.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 1. 229. Strawing, or selling straws in the street, and giving away with them something that is really or fictionally forbidden to be sold, as indecent papers, political songs, and the like.
Straw-ride, subs. phr. (American).—A
driving excursion in a
STRAWED-down van or sleigh.
Strawyard, subs. (tramps').—See
quot.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab., 11. 138. They come back to London to avail themselves of the shelter of the night asylums or refuges for the destitute (usually called straw-yards by the poor).
Hence, like a strawyard bull, phr. (common).—A jocose retort to the question, 'How are you?' 'Like a strawyard bull, full of fuck and half-starved.'
See Straw, subs. 3.
Streak, subs. (American).—1. A
mental peculiarity: cf. Twist,
Kink, etc. Also a fit of temper:
whence streaky, adj. = (1)
