Word.ws English Dictionary

in the straw

in the straw prepositional phrase: confined to bed because of pregnancy.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (archaic, idiomatic, slang) Confined to bed because of pregnancy.
    • Excuse the blots and scrawl of this letter. I am writing in an astonishing hurry and my secretary is so much engaged in copying public, that he has no time to devote to private letters—and my female secretary is at present in the straw with a young gentleman who sends his compliments to you.1789, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to James Madison, 28 March, in The Documentary History of the First Federal Elections 1788–1790, vol. 1, ed. Merrill Jensen and Robert A. Becker, University of...
    • She was shown the woman "in the straw," and performed her office; but when ready to dress the babe, an old woman, (who, according to the narration, appears to have been the nurse,) put a box of ointment into her hand, requiring her to anoint the child all over with it, but to be careful that it did...1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 311

Questions about in the straw

What does in the straw mean?
In the straw means confined to bed because of pregnancy.
What part of speech is in the straw?
In the straw is a prepositional phrase.

Words near in the straw in the dictionary

  1. in the space of
  2. in the spotlight
  3. in the stars
  4. in the stead of
  5. in the stratosphere
  6. in the straw
  7. in the streets
  8. in the swim
  9. in the swim of things
  10. in the tank
  11. in the teeth of

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: in the straw (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-in the straw.ogg.

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