Jackstraw

adj, noun

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Resembling a bundle of jackstraws that has been strewn on a surface. not-comparable

    "Along the grass-grown wharves,—silver-gray piles which crumbled at the ends into a jackstraw heap of rotting logs,—there was no human stir."

  2. 2
    Of no substance or worth. not-comparable, obsolete

    "[…] if you are my daughter, you shall wear these for your father’s sake!—How now, madam! Refuse me! I command you on your obedience to accept of this—I will not be a Jack-straw father—"

Noun
  1. 1
    One of the pieces used for the game called jackstraws or pick-up sticks. plural-normally

    "It was a cheerful reminder of one’s childhood, and another bond of sympathy between the various branches of the human race, however remotely separated from each other, to find the little shaven-pated lads playing ball in the streets of Hakodadi, or jackstraws within the domestic circle at home."

  2. 2
    a thin strip of wood used in playing the game of jackstraws wordnet
  3. 3
    An insignificant person. dated

    "[They] had rather be called Sons of the Earth, provided it be their own Earth, (their own Native Country) and act like Men at home, then, being deſtitute of Houſe or Land, to relieve the neceſſities of Nature in a Foreign Country, by ſelling of Smoke, as thou doſt, an inconſiderable Fellow, and a Jack-ſtraw, and who dependeſt upon the good will of thy Maſters for a poor Stipend; [...]"

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