a man of straw
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
A man without means, with no more substance than a straw doll; also, an imaginary or fictitious person put forward for some reason.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “a man of straw” mean?
A man without means, with no more substance than a straw doll; also, an imaginary or fictitious person put forward for some reason.
Is “a man of straw” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.