straw

clutch (or grasp or catch) at straws do, say, or believe anything, however unlikely or inadequate, which seems to offer hope in a desperate situation.

☞ This expression comes from the proverb a drowning man will clutch at a straw, which is recorded in various forms since the mid 16th century.

draw the short straw be the unluckiest of a group of people, especially in being chosen to perform an unpleasant task.

☞ One method of drawing lots involves holding several straws of varying lengths with one end concealed in your hand and then inviting other members of the group to take one each.

2019Guardian It had been left to David Lidington, minister for the Cabinet Office, to open the latest Brexit debate the government had been hoping to avoid. He looked like a man who knew he had drawn the short straw.

the last (or final) straw a further difficulty or annoyance, typically minor in itself but coming on top of a whole series of difficulties, that makes a situation unbearable.

☞ The full version of this is the proverb the last straw breaks the camel's back. The modern form is traceable to Charles Dickens in Dombey and Son (1848), but earlier versions are recorded, including a mid-17th-century reference to the last feather breaking a horse's back.

make bricks without straw: seebrick.

man of straw: seeman.

not care two straws: seecare.

a straw in the wind a slight but significant hint of future developments.

straws in your hair a state of insanity.

☞ In former times, the floors of mental institutions were covered with straw, and so having straw in the hair came to be regarded as a characteristic of a deranged person.