straw

IPA: strˈɔ

(countable) A dried stalk of a cereal plant.
(uncountable) Such dried stalks considered collectively; this bulk matter may be a chief salable product, a by-product, fodder, bedding, or green manure, depending on region and on current market conditions.
(countable) A drinking straw.
(uncommon) A pale, yellowish beige colour, like that of a dried straw.
(figurative) Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing.
A surname transferred from the nickname.

To lay straw around plants to protect them from frost.
(obsolete, slang) To sell straws on the streets in order to cover the giving to the purchaser of things usually banned, such as pornography.

Examples of "straw" in Sentences

Ah, the straw-man or what I dub the straw-horse argument.
The word straw has often been used to refer to things that are not quite valid or sincere.
State GOP officials had heavily promoted what they described as their straw ballot's predictive power.
I know the difference by knowing my own: in my country, _if the prince says, "Eat straw" we eat straw_. '
* Drinking soda through a straw limits cavities, but only if the straw is aimed pretty much straight into your throat.
Buying a weapon for somebody who is otherwise by law not allowed to own a weapon is a violation of what we call our straw purchase law here and that is a serious crime.
But rather than try to go with the rational argument which, granted, often seems not to work very well in this society, organizations in favor of equal opportunity try to back it up by arguing what you call the straw man.