jackstraws
1jackstraws — jack straws , n. The game played with jackstraws[2], which resembles {pick up sticks}. [PJC] …
2jackstraws — n. child s game played with straws or strips of woodn. piece of straw or strip of wood used in the game of jackstraws; scarecrow (Archaic); worthless person (Archaic) …
3jackstraws — noun a game in which players try to pick each jackstraw (or spillikin) off of a pile without moving any of the others • Syn: ↑spillikins • Hypernyms: ↑child s game …
4Pick-up sticks — For the song Pick Up Sticks by The Dave Brubeck Quartet, see Time Out Pick up sticks (or pick a stick) is a game of physical and mental skill in which sticks have to be removed from a pile without disturbing the remaining ones. One root of the… …
5jackstraw — /jak straw /, n. 1. one of a group of strips of wood or similar objects, as straws or toothpicks, used in the game of jackstraws. 2. jackstraws, (used with a sing. v.) a game in which players compete in picking up, one by one, as many jackstraws… …
6jackstraw — jack•straw [[t]ˈdʒækˌstrɔ[/t]] n. 1) gam one of the thin strips of wood or other material used in jackstraws 2) gam jackstraws, (used with a sing. v.) a game in which piled jackstraws must be picked up, one by one, without disturbing the heap •… …
7pick-up-sticks — /pik up stiks /, n. jackstraws played with sticks. * * * ▪ game also called jackstraws , or spillikins game of skill, played by both children and adults, with thin wooden sticks or with straws or matches. In the early 18th century… …
8spillikin — [spil′i kən] n. [< MDu spilleken, dim. of spille: see SPILE] Chiefly Brit. 1. any of the strips used in jackstraws 2. [pl., with sing. v.] the game of jackstraws: Also sp. spilikin …
9Jackstraw — 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… …
10jackstraw — noun Date: 1801 1. plural but singular in construction a game in which a set of straws or thin strips is let fall in a heap with each player in turn trying to remove one at a time without disturbing the rest 2. one of the pieces used in the game… …
