jackstraw noun. ['dʒakstrɔ:] Also jack-straw. L16.
[from JACK noun¹ + STRAW noun. Partly from Jack Straw, a leader in the rising of the Commons in 1381.]
1. A person of no substance, worth, or consideration. L16.

2. In pl. A set of straws or other thin strips, used in a game in which they are thrown in a heap, and each must be picked up singly without disturbing any other; (treated as sing.) this game. E19.

3. A jot, a whit. E19.

[TahlilGaran] English Dictionary ▲