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jackstraws

British  
/ ˈdʒækˌstrɔːz /

noun

  1. (functioning as singular) another name for spillikins

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

“The Colony Fire specifically is burning in a really bad spot … where these trees are like jackstraws and it’s difficult to put fire personnel into some of these areas because of that,” he said.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 15, 2021

He took on Soviet cinema’s senior figure Sergei Eisenstein, likening Eisenstein’s 1925 film “Strike” to “theater for fools”; Eisenstein in turn dismissed Vertov’s “formalist jackstraws and unmotivated camera mischief.”

From New York Times • Apr. 10, 2011

The room must be small and, on crowded nights, tables the size of telephone stands must be jammed together like jackstraws.

From Time Magazine Archive

Predominant types: the whorls, jackstraws and disembodied eyelashes of Russian Vasily Kandinsky; the massive, machinelike color patterns of French Fernand L�ger; the planetary balls and bubbles, interlocking triangles and color spots of German Rudolf Bauer.

From Time Magazine Archive

It was a little bit like playing jackstraws, where you toss all the straws down in a pile and then try to take one away without disturbing the others.

From "Dragonwings" by Laurence Yep