'Jackstraw' definitions:
Definition of 'jackstraw'
(from WordNet)
noun
A thin strip of wood used in playing the game of jackstraws [syn: jackstraw, spillikin]
Definition of 'Jackstraw'
From: GCIDE
- Jackstraw \Jack"straw`\, n.
- 1. An effigy stuffed with straw; a scarecrow; hence, a man without property or influence. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
- 2. One of a set of straws of strips of ivory, bone, wood, etc., for playing a child's game, the jackstraws being thrown confusedly together on a table, to be gathered up singly by a hooked instrument, without touching or disturbing the rest of the pile. See Spilikin. A modern variation, called pick-up-sticks (U.S. 1940+), is played with thin wooden sticks of different colors, each color having different values for scoring; the sticks are dislodged from the pile with the hand or with one of the sticks. [1913 Webster +PJC]