Meaning
A small, early sign showing how a situation is likely to develop; a slight hint of the direction in which events are moving. The image is a straw tossed into the air to reveal which way the wind is blowing. Journalism usually casts it in the plural, as in 'there are straws in the wind'. Chiefly plural in news and political writing ('straws in the wind'); neutral-to-literary register. Do not confuse with the last straw (a final irritation), clutching at straws (desperate hope), or the separate idiom 'which way the wind blows' (gauging opinion), which has its own entry on this site. The Heywood 1546 origin story circulates but is unconfirmed. Regional use: Universal, with a British-journalism flavour (Cambridge labels it UK).
Origin
The metaphor is transparent - a straw thrown up into the air travels with the wind and so betrays its direction. Wiktionary defines a straw in the wind as a premonitory sign, chiefly used in the plural, straws in the wind. Its earliest cited quotation is from Jack London's autobiographical novel John Barleycorn (1913): 'There were little hints then that I did not take, little straws in the wind that I did not see, little incidents the gravity of which I did not realise' - wording verified against the chapter text on Wikisource. Cambridge Dictionary labels it a mainly UK idiom meaning something that suggests what might happen. Popular references sometimes trace the underlying image to John Heywood's 1546 proverb collection, but the exact idiom is securely dated only from the early 20th century; the straw-and-wind image belongs to the much older proverb stock about reading the wind.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a mere straw in the wind
- straws in the wind
Usage Examples
- The chief executive's sudden resignation was a straw in the wind for investors watching the troubled firm.
- Analysts read the softer sales figures as straws in the wind pointing to a slowdown next year.
- Take the mayor's cool reply as a straw in the wind; the coalition is quietly fraying.