last straw

the last straw

The final problem, setback, or source of irritation in a series that causes one to finally lose patience or for something to stop working. A shortening of the proverb "it is the last straw that breaks the camel's back." I've been a good sport about letting Tom share the credit for my work, but this is the last straw! I'm finally going to expose him for the liar he is. OK, that's the last straw, kids! I told you to stop shouting back there, and now I'm turning this car around.
See also: last, straw
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

last straw

n. the final act or insult; the act that finally calls for a response. This is the last straw. I’m calling the police.
See also: last, straw
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

last straw, the

The final minor irritation; one last superfluous item. This term, also put as the straw that broke the camel’s back, appears in Dickens’s Dombey and Son (1848). It is a version of the earlier “last feather that breaks the horse’s back,” found in Archbishop John Bramhall’s Works (1677) and repeated in Fuller’s Gnomologia (1732). Both convey a vivid image of something that would not be burdensome if there were not too much of it, but the straw version is the one that survived and became a cliché.
See also: last
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • prostie
  • prosties
  • reg
  • cig
  • cuz
  • clitty
  • there is many a slip twixt cup and lip
  • there's many a slip
  • there's many a slip twixt cup and lip
  • twixt
References in periodicals archive
sleeping The latest Thursday last straw. I how much can take..
But she stressed that the last straw was the President's decision to cancel the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, which she said the President announced on August 14.
Stephanie, who can trace her ancestry to Scotland, lauded the Sunday Mail's Last Straw campaign launched in January, adding: "I would do everything in my power to encourage everyone to get behind moves to stop using plastic straws.
(The SET decision) was the last straw. That was the deciding factor for him to go for it, Cayetano said.
Flings at office parties, lack of sex, financial worries, and disappointing presents were among the issues deemed the last straw, researchers found.
The Last Straw opens in a university, where a reviled professor has been found with his throat slashed.
Launching his book Odd Man Out: The Last Straw, Biggs expressed sorrow over the fate of mail train driver Jack Mills, who died in 1970 having never made a full recovery after being coshed.
It is the owners who fund the not inconsiderable transport bills and I fear that such expenses may prove the last straw for some small owners.
UAB psychologist Josh Klapow, a professor in the School of Public Health, says it is the last straw for travellers, who are already feeling stressed.
That's the last straw. Well, the last straw for a can of WD-40 anyway.
"I think the Kennedy thing was just the last straw," Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, told the Los Angeles Times.
At a meeting of 200 barristers held in Wigan today it was claimed the latest round was "the last straw
Levine's case was the last straw for many federal watchdogs who have been frustrated and angry with the way the OSC now works under Bloch, the former deputy director and counsel to the Task Force for Faith-based and Community Initiatives at the U.S.
The Last Straw. This periodical covers all kinds of natural building.
The last straw was O'Neill's African trip with the singer Bono.