What's the difference between straw and strew?

Straw


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To spread or scatter. See Strew, and Strow.
  • (n.) A stalk or stem of certain species of grain, pulse, etc., especially of wheat, rye, oats, barley, more rarely of buckwheat, beans, and pease.
  • (n.) The gathered and thrashed stalks of certain species of grain, etc.; as, a bundle, or a load, of rye straw.
  • (n.) Anything proverbially worthless; the least possible thing; a mere trifle.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The patient, a 12 year-old boy, showed a soft white yellowish mycotic excrescence with clear borders which had followed the introduction of a small piece of straw into the cornea.
  • (2) The lambs of the second group were given 1200-1500 g of concentrate pellets and 300 g chopped wheat straw, and those of the third group were given 800 and 1050 g each of concentrate pellets, and 540 g and 720 g of pellets of whole maize plant containing 40 per cent.
  • (3) Jack Straw, foreign secretary at the time of the Iraq war, took a less dramatic view.
  • (4) David Blunkett, not Straw, was the home secretary at the time the decision was taken to allow Poles and others immediate access to the British labour market.
  • (5) Pictures of the Social Network star emerged on Twitter and Instagram on Wednesday, showing Garfield in full costume for Punchdrunk's current show, The Drowned Man , chewing seductively on a stick of straw .
  • (6) 9.31am BST Jack Straw , the Labour former home secretary, was on the Today programme earlier talking about the "plebgate" affair.
  • (7) Never had I heard anything about what I saw documented so unsparingly in Evan’s photographs: families sleeping in the streets, their clothes in shreds, straw hats torn and unprotecting of the sun, guajiros looking for work on the doorsteps of Havana’s indifferent mansions.
  • (8) This paper investigates the effect of straw handling on the viability of 2-cell mouse embryos rapidly frozen in dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) solutions.
  • (9) "I have just seen a piece of straw flying over, which the hon lady is attempting to clutch at!"
  • (10) Jack Straw's detailed blueprint for a 300- strong, wholly elected upper chamber to replace the Lords appears to have been blocked at the last minute following resistance in cabinet.
  • (11) That was the straw that broke the camel's back and we thought it better to stop it dead in it tracks now.
  • (12) Straw meal integration had a gravidity-conditioned influence on the daily N balance.
  • (13) The highest level of contamination with fungi was observed in the concentrate feed mixture followed by clover hay and rice straw.
  • (14) Insemination with semen stored in 0.5-ml French straws was performed daily during the periovulatory period while the modified Insler score was 10 or greater out of 15.
  • (15) It’s still unclear which candidates will choose to compete in the straw poll and mount actual efforts to attract Iowans.
  • (16) Shortly after Blair and Straw issued their denials, Sir Richard Dearlove, who was head of MI6 at the time, said: "It was a political decision, having very significantly disarmed Libya, for the government to co-operate with Libya on Islamist terrorism.
  • (17) Hundred twenty three samples of bull semen fluid frozen at 196 degrees C including 83 plastic ampules, 20 granules and 20 plastic straws obtained from the containers of the insemination stations of 10 farms from the Sofia district were investigated.
  • (18) Mariah Carey 's need for a staff member to carry her drink and prop up the bendy bit of her straw is what makes me love her so much.
  • (19) Despite the freezing curve assayed, both the mini-straws and the bags depicted much shorter freezing point plateaus as compared to the maxi-straws.
  • (20) Even Jack Straw is trying to close down some of its overripe practices.

Strew


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To scatter; to spread by scattering; to cast or to throw loosely apart; -- used of solids, separated or separable into parts or particles; as, to strew seed in beds; to strew sand on or over a floor; to strew flowers over a grave.
  • (v. t.) To cover more or less thickly by scattering something over or upon; to cover, or lie upon, by having been scattered; as, they strewed the ground with leaves; leaves strewed the ground.
  • (v. t.) To spread abroad; to disseminate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Strew with oregano and thyme leaves and drizzle with the pan juices.
  • (2) There is a further problem strewed across the path of repeal.
  • (3) Ester + Matt describe their fictional city as 'one part country, two parts awesome and everything about who they are' " – Green Wedding Shoes ignores the fact that most problems at a reception centre around in-law controversy and inappropriate best man behaviour, rather than how to strew bunting around your favourite converted barn.
  • (4) 8.05pm BST I didn't have time to bake but I have got a table strew with shop-bought treats and a dab of flour on my nose for authenticity.