straw (redirected from caught at straws)

A drowning man will clutch at a straw.

Prov. When you are desperate, you will look for anything that might help you, even if it cannot help you very much. Scott thinks this faith healer will cure his baldness. A drowning man will clutch at a straw.

See also: clutch, drown, man

called to straw

Rur. about to begin labor and childbirth. Susan was called to straw when she was only seven months along. Nancy's nine months pregnant and could be called to straw any day now.

See also: call

clutch at straws

Fig. to continue to seek solutions, ideas, or hopes that are insubstantial. When you talk of cashing in quick on your inventions, you are just clutching at straws. That is not a real solution to the problem. You are just clutching at straws.

See also: clutch

draw straws for something

Fig. to decide who gets something or must do something by choosing straws from an unseen set of straws of different lengths. (The person who gets the shortest straw is chosen. See also draw lots.) We drew straws for the privilege of going first. Let's draw straws for it.

See also: draw

grasping at straws

Fig. to depend on something that is useless; to make a futile attempt at something. John couldn't answer the teacher's question. He was just grasping at straws. There I was, grasping at straws, with no one to help me.

last straw and the straw that broke the camel's back

the final difficulty in a series; the last little burden or problem that causes everything to collapse. (From the image of a camel being loaded down with much weight. Finally, at some point, one more straw will be too much and the camel's back will break.) When our best player came down sick, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. We hoped to make the playoffs, but lost all the rest of our games. When she showed up late a third time, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. We had to fire her.

See also: last

straw man

a weak proposition posited only to be demolished by a simple countering argument. So you can knock down your own straw man! Big deal. The question is how can you deal with real problems.

See also: man

You cannot make bricks without straw.

Prov. You have to have all the necessary materials in order to make something. Ellen: I really wanted to give Fred a birthday party, but none of the people I invited were able to come. Jane: Don't blame yourself. You can't make bricks without straw.

See also: brick, cannot, make, without

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a man of straw  (British, American & Australian) also a straw man (American)

a person or an idea that is weak and easy to defeat Compared to their illustrious predecessors, the country's leaders seem to be men of straw.

See also: man

a straw in the wind

something that shows you what might happen in the future (usually plural) There were one or two straws in the wind yesterday that suggested an offensive was imminent.

See also: wind

clutch/grasp at straws 

1. to try any method, even those that are not likely to succeed, because you are in such a bad situation (usually in continuous tenses) He's hoping that this new treatment will help him but I think he's clutching at straws.

2. to try to find reasons to feel hopeful about a situation when there is no real cause for hope (usually in continuous tenses) She thinks he might still be interested because he calls her now and then but I think she's clutching at straws.

See also: clutch

draw the short straw  (informal)

to be the member of a group who has to do an unpleasant job Sorry, Jim, you drew the short straw. You're on toilet-cleaning duty.

See draw a bead on, draw a blank, draw in horns

See also: draw, short

the final/last straw

the last in a series of unpleasant events which finally makes you feel that you cannot continue to accept a bad situation One night he came home drunk at 5 o'clock in the morning and that was the last straw. He'd been unhappy at work for a long time but the last straw came when he was refused promotion. (often + for ) Lucy leaving was the last straw for him and he pretty much gave up the will to live.

See also: final

the straw that breaks the camel's back

the last in a series of unpleasant events which finally makes you feel that you cannot continue to accept a bad situation Losing my job was bad enough but having the relationship end like that was the straw that broke the camel's back.

See also: back, break

You can't make bricks without straw.

something that you say which means you cannot do something correctly without the necessary materials I need an electric drill to put these shelves up. You can't make bricks without straw.

See also: brick, make, without

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grasping at straws also clutching at straws

1. trying to find some way to succeed when nothing you choose is likely to work Jerry, grasping at straws, searched the backup tapes from last week, looking for the missing files.

2. trying to find reasons to feel hopeful about a bad situation She thinks he might still be interested because he calls her now and then but I think she's clutching at straws.

straw in the wind

something that shows you what might happen in the future There were straws in the wind that suggested a strike was likely.

Usage notes: usually used in the plural, as in the example

See also: wind