straight

• streight (obsolete)

From Middle English streight, streght, streiȝt, the past participle of strecchen (“to stretch”), from Old English streċċan (past participle ġestreaht, ġestreht), from Proto-West Germanic *strakkjan (“to stretch”). Doublet of straught.

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• IPA^(key): /stɹeɪt/

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• Rhymes: -eɪt
• Homophone: strait

straight (comparative straighter, superlative straightest)

1. Not crooked, curly, or bent; having a constant direction throughout its length. [from 14th c.]
   • 1811, [Jane Austen], Sense and Sensibility […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] C[harles] Roworth, […], and published by T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC:

     I do not like crooked, twisted, blasted trees. I admire them much more if they are tall, straight and flourishing.

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IX, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     “Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better. […]”

   • 2011 March 22, Adharanand Finn, The Guardian:

     The other people, I presume, are supposed to be standing to attention, but they're all smiling at me. The lines are not even straight.

2. (of a path, trajectory, etc.) Direct, undeviating. [from 15th c.]
   • 1913, John Fox, Jr., The Kentuckians, page 185:

     Now, as the world knows, the straightest way to the heart of the honest voter is through the women of the land, and the straightest way to the heart of the women is through the children of the land; and one method of winning both, with rural politicians, is to kiss the babies wide and far.

   • 2000, Allan Wood, Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox, page 293:

     He had no time to set himself, but his throw was straight and true. Pick slid in, spikes high, and Schang tagged him in the ribs a foot or two from the plate.

   • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

     Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

3. Perfectly horizontal or vertical; not diagonal or oblique. [from 17th c.]
   • 1925, United States House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee No. 1, Charges Against William E. Baker, U.S. District Judge:

     Mr. Coniff: He did not have his hat on straight; that is the one thing, is it?

   • 2004, Chris Weston, 500 Digital Photography Hints, Tips, and Techniques:

     There's nothing more annoying than taking a great picture, only to find that the horizon isn't straight.

4. (cricket) Describing the bat as held so as not to incline to either side; on, or near a line running between the two wickets. [from 19th c.]
   • 2011 March 15, Alan Gardner, Barney Ronay, The Guardian:

     Steyn continues and it's all a bit more orderly down his end as O'Brien defends the first three balls with a straight bat and a respectful dip of the head.

5. (engineering, of an internal-combustion engine) Having all cylinders in a single straight line; in-line.
6. Direct in communication; unevasive, straightforward. [from 19th c.]
   • 2003 April 24, Rosie Cowan, The Guardian:

     Tony Blair issued a direct challenge to the IRA yesterday when he demanded they give straight answers to three simple questions […].

   • 2020 December 2, Andy Byford talks to Paul Clifton, “I enjoy really big challenges...”, in Rail, page 50:

     What's more, he actually tries to answer a straight question with a straight answer.

7. Free from dishonesty; honest, law-abiding. [from 16th c.]
   • 1879, Anthony Trollope, John Caldigate:

     ‘It wasn't the proper thing, squoire. It wasn't straight.’

   • 2010 August 4, The Guardian, Out of prison and trying to go straight‎:

     How easy is it to go straight after a life spent in and out of prison?

8. Serious rather than comedic.
   • 1988, Ed Gould, Entertaining Canadians: Canada's international stars, 1900-1988, Cappis Pr Pub Ltd, →ISBN:

     Allan Blye, a CBC-TV mainstay in the early Sixties, worked as a singer, writer and straight and comedic actor.

   • 2004, Tammy Ravas, Peter Schickele: A Bio-bibliography, Greenwood Publishing Group, →ISBN:

     All of Peter Schickele's music, both straight and comedic are integrated side by side in this chapter.

   • 2005, Bob McCabe, The Rough Guide to Comedy Movies, Rough Guides Limited:

     More success followed, both straight and comedic, with hits such as Dead Poets' Society (1989), in which Williams scored another Oscar nomination for skilfully handling a classic "rogue teacher" role that hovers just this side of sentimentality, […]

9. In proper order; as it should be. [from 19th c.]
   • 2007, Grant Allen, What's Bred in the Bone, page 140:

     Oh, music, how he loved it; it seemed to set everything straight all at once in his head.

   • 2010 August 15, Paul Gallagher, The Observer:

     "If you wonder why folks can't take the news seriously, here's Exhibit A," said one blogger. "Lord Jesus, how can the reporter file this story with a straight face?"

10. In a row, in unbroken sequence; consecutive. [from 19th c.]

    After four straight wins, Mudchester United are top of the league.

    • 2011 September 24, David Ornstein, “Arsenal 3-0 Bolton”, in BBC Sport:

      It moves them from 17th to 12th on seven points, while Bolton are now bottom of the table with five straight defeats.

    • 2008 October 30, “Bad vibrations”, in The Economist:

      As of October 29th, three-month dollar Libor (the rate at which banks borrow from each other) had fallen for 13 straight days and was nearly one-and-a-half percentage points below its October 10th level.

11. (tennis) Describing the sets in a match of which the winner did not lose a single set. [from 19th c.]
    • 2011 February 10, Press Association:

      Murray started well against Marcos Baghdatis before slumping to defeat in straight sets and the British No1 admitted he may not have been mentally prepared for the rigours of the ATP Tour after a gruelling start to 2011.

12. (US, politics) Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party.

    a straight Republican

    a straight Democrat

13. (US, politics) Containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a single party and no others.

    a straight ballot

14. (colloquial) Conventional; mainstream; socially acceptable. [from 20th c.]
    • 1971 March 18, Timothy Crouse, “Don Eyles: Extra! Weird-Looking Freak Saves Apollo 14!”, in Rolling Stone‎:

      Although Eyles, the minor celebrity, is respected by his co-workers, he looks out of place among the dozens of short-haired, short-sleeved technocrats who man the Lab. “No doubt about it,” he says, “there are an awful lot of people around here you’d have to call straight.”

    • 1983 August 20, Larry Goldsmith, quoting Joanne Prevostt Anzalone, “Pilgrim Theater Closed, 'Kinky Gays' Blamed”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 6, page 1:

      I've learned that there are two types of gays—straight gays and kinky gays.

    • 1994, “Do You Remember the First Time?”, in Jarvis Cocker (lyrics), His ’n’ Hers, performed by Pulp:

      You say you've got to go home / Well at least there's someone there that you can talk to / And you never have to face up to the night on your own / Jesus, it must be great to be straight

    • 1998 October 17, Eileen Fitzpatrick, Dominic Pride, Billboard:

      ‘Her last album was a bit too straight,’ he says, ‘but this one puts her in a more contemporary framework and softens her music.’

    • 2007, Tracy Quan, Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Crown Publishers, →ISBN:

      "When you say he's a straight guy, you mean […]?" I held up my left hand as if it were a shield and spun my ring around. I told her: "He works on Wall Street. […] He wouldn't understand my business. He's always had a straight job. His entire life he's been so – so normal that he doesn't even know how normal he is. […] He doesn't know I'm a hooker. I'm pretending to be a straight chick. And it's working! And that makes him a straight guy. It's ... I feel like Dr. Frankenhooker."

15. (colloquial) Heterosexual.[1]

    Synonym: hetero

    • 1975, “Ain't Nobody Straight in L.A.”, in City of Angels, performed by The Miracles:

      Ain't nobody straight in L.A. / It seems that everybody is gay

    • 1997, Laura Harris, Elizabeth Crocker, Femme: Feminists, Lesbians, and Bad Girls, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 196:

      We only appear straight for the first five seconds. Just walking down the street, in the diner, or at the boardwalk, we hear, "Is she a man? Is she a woman? If she is a straight woman, what is she doing with this gay man?" We check in with each other. "What do you think, is it okay? I think we should go. I think we should cross over to the other side. Danger."

    • 2003, Helen Boyd, My Husband Betty: Love, Sex, and Life with a Crossdresser, New York, N.Y.: Thunder's Mouth Press, →ISBN, page 187:

      ["] […] He's a straight guy who does drag." At that, the man laughed. "Oh, you're putting me on!" He decided I must have been pulling his leg the whole time. He glanced back at my husband again. "So what's his number?" "The same as mine."

    • 2007 September 17, Layla Kumari, The Guardian:

      Some of my friends – gay and straight – seem unable to understand the close but platonic nature of my and Gian's relationship, but have been supportive.

    • 2011, Jodi Picoult, Sing You Home, page 273:

      Angela smiles. ‘I'm straight, Zoe, and I'm happily married.’

    • 2012, Wheeler Winston Dixon, Straight: Constructions of Heterosexuality in the Cinema, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, →ISBN, page 1:

      Every other mode of social discourse is "other," whether it be termed gay (or the newly acceptable queer), bisexual, or asexual, or embodied in the concept of the spinster, the confirmed bachelor, the old maid, or the same-sex couple who will never fit into the "straight" world, and doesn't or don't want to. The state of nonstraightness is essentially suspect; it is not seen as "right [or] correct."

    • 2013, Katie Price, He's the One, London: Century, →ISBN, page 233:

      Why did he have to be straight? It's my tragedy. When we went camping with the school, we shared a tent. I was hoping for a Brokeback Mountain moment. I mean, I know he's straight, but there's always hope.

16. (colloquial, of a romantic or sexual relation) Occurring between people of opposite sex (sometimes, but not always, specifically between heterosexual people).

    straight marriage, sex, relationships

    • 2013, Shiri Eisner, Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution, Seal Press, →ISBN, page 100:

      However, a "man/woman relationship" with a bisexual person in it, is not a "straight" relationship […]

    • 2015, Cara Bergstrom-Lynch, Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexuals Becoming Parents or Remaining Childfree: Confronting Social Inequalities, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 6:

      What was possible family-wise was fairly limited, though many gays, lesbians, and bisexuals had children in straight relationships and then came out.

    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:straight.
17. (slang, sex work) Related to conventional sexual intercourse.

    Coordinate term: French

    • 1946, Milton “Mezz” Mezzrow, Bernard Wolfe, “Not too Far Tangent”, in Really the Blues, New York, N.Y.: Random House, book 1 (1899–1923: A Nothin’ but a Child), page 23:

      “That coffee-an’ mac you got,” a French girl would crack to a straight one, and then it was on—hair came out by the handful, some bleached and some unbleached.

18. (colloquial) Not using alcohol, drugs, etc. [from 20th c.]

    Synonym: straightedge

    • 1989, Gus Van Sant, Drugstore Cowboy:

      For all the boredom the straight life brings, it's not too bad.

    • 2001, Ruella Frank, Body of Evidence, page 28:

      ‘Alex's dad used a lot of drugs. He's been straight for years now, but it took a long time for him to be able to deal with his feelings.’

19. (fashion) Not plus size; thin.

    The shirts only come in straight sizes, not in plus sizes.

    shopping at a straight-sized store

20. (rare, now chiefly religion) Strait; narrow.
    • c. 1360, Sir John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville:

      Egypt is a long country, but it is straight, that is to say, narrow.

    • 1814, John Britton, Edward Wedlake Brayley, Thomas Hood, The Beauties of England and Wales:

      that the old streets are unfit for the present frequency of Coaches; and that the passage of Ludgate is a throat too straight for the body.

    • 1893, The Pulpit: A Magazine of Sermons - Volume 8, page 322:

      "Enter ye into the straight gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth unto destruction, and many go in thereat; because straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

    • 1894, American Anthropologist, page 153:

      Family or Gentile expansion: “Behold now the place where we dwell with thee is too straight for us.”

    • 2013, Dr. Apostle Emmanuel Adebiyi, Purposes of the Cross:

      One is a wide gate and broad way seeker, while the other is the straight gate and narrow way seeker.

21. (obsolete) Stretched out; fully extended. [15th–16th c.]
22. (slang) Thorough; utter; unqualified.
    • 2012, Pimpin' Ken, PIMPOLOGY: The 48 Laws of the Game, page 11:

      A real pimp is a gentleman, but these are pimps in gorilla suits. They hang around pimps, they have hoes on the track working for them, they may even look like pimps, but they are straight simps.

23. Of spirits: undiluted, unmixed; neat. [from 19th c.]
    • 2003, Ron Jordan, Considerations:

      Real cowboys know how to rope, ride a horse and drink whisky straight.

    • 2003, Lowell Edmunds, Martini, Straight Up, page 94:

      The Martini is still in belief, if not in fact, the centerpiece of a rite, and people who would not drink straight gin on the rocks will drink straight gin on the rocks if it is called a Martini.

24. (telegraphy, historical, of a telegram) Sent at a full rate for immediate delivery; being a fast telegram.
    • 1964 [1929], William Faulkner, Sartoris (The Collected Works of William Faulkner), London: Chatto & Windus, page 23:

      “Was it a straight message?” Miss Jenny asked. The other said yes and she added: “Horace must have got rich, like the soldiers say all the Y.M.C.A. did. Well, if it has taught a man like Horace to make money, the war was a pretty good thing, after all.”

25. (sciences, mathematics) Concerning the property allowing the parallel transport of vectors along a course that keeps tangent vectors remain as such throughout that course (a course which is straight, a straight curve, is a geodesic).
26. (informal, of a person) OK, all right, fine; in a good state or situation.

    "Is something on your mind?" "Nah, I'm straight".

    Just making sure you're straight

27. (informal, of people, reciprocal) On good terms.

    We had a bit of a disagreement, but we're straight now.

• bent
• crooked
• curved

• → Japanese: ストレート

straight (comparative more straight, superlative most straight)

1. Of a direction relative to the subject, precisely; as if following a direct line.

   The door will be straight ahead of you.

   Go straight back.

2. Directly; without pause, delay or detour.

   On arriving at work, he went straight to his office.

   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:

     Tartarian theeues,
     That lie in ambuſh, waiting for a pray:
     What ſhould we doe but bid them battel ſtraight,
     And rid the world of thoſe deteſted troopes?

   • 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 1:

     I know thy generous temper well; / Fling but the appearance of dishonour on it, / It straight takes fire, and mounts into a blaze.

3. Continuously; without interruption or pause.

   He claims he can hold his breath for three minutes straight.

4. Of speech or information, without prevarication or holding back; directly; straightforwardly; plainly.
   • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC:

     "By ginger, Mudgy, you do go off the handle over nothing. I tell you straight, I was damned annoyed with you this afternoon, going pop like that at a man over nothing."

straight (plural straights)

1. Something that is not crooked or bent such as a part of a road or track.
   • 2009, Robert Newton, Runner, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, page 191:

     After four grueling laps, the race had come down to a sprint. Into the straight, although my legs were burning, I called on them for more, and they responded. On my inside the maroon singlet came with me, until it was just the two of us heading for the line.

   • 2011, Gene W. Zepp, 24 Heures Du Mans, [S.l.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, page 19:

     Seppi started the engine, then shifted first gear and sped away into second, then third and fourth gear. Frank heard the roar of the Porsche's engine further down the straight and the back short straight. He held a stopwatch in his hand, waiting for him to come up into the straight from the hairpin curve.

2. (poker) Five cards in sequence.
3. (colloquial) A heterosexual.

   Synonyms: hetero, breeder

   My friends call straights "heteros".

4. (slang) A normal person; someone in mainstream society.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:mainstreamer

   • 1971, John Lennon (lyrics and music), “How Do You Sleep?”, in Imagine:

     You live with straights who tell you you was king / Jump when your momma tell you anything

   • 1989, Ghostbusters II, spoken by Peter Venkman (Bill Murray):

     Boys! Boys! You're scaring the straights, okay? Is there any way that we could do this tomorrow?

   • 2014, Matthew D. Tribbe, “Turning a Miracle into a Bummer”, in No Requiem for the Space Age, →ISBN, page 150:

     More importantly, Blows Against the Empire […] more than any other work revealed the split vision towards space exploration among many in the counter-culture: a romantic vision of the freedom offered by space that had been fostered by a lifetime of science fiction consumption, immersion in a technological society, the countercultural yearning for speed and “the road,” and, thanks to LSD and other hallucinogens, a unique preappreciation of space traveling not available to straights, versus the bland, oppressive vision of exploration offered by NASA, itself just one part of a larger destructive system that was devastating Earth and that could only offer further oppression in space, not liberation.

5. (slang) A cigarette, particularly one containing tobacco instead of marijuana. [from 20th c.]

   Synonym: straighter

   • [1923, J[oseph] Manchon, Le slang : lexique de l'anglais familier et vulgaire : précédé d'une étude sur la pronunciation et la grammaire populaires, p. 296:

     A straight = a straighter = a straight cut, une cigarette en tabac de Virginie.]

6. A chiropractor who relies solely on spinal adjustment, with no other treatments.

   Antonym: mixer

7. A cat that has straight ears despite belonging to a breed that often has folded ears.
   • 2021, B. J. Deming, 25 More Facts About House Cats

     A hopeful sign of compromise is the growing popularity of Scottish Fold "straights" (cats like Maru, without droopy ears).

• → Japanese: ストレート (sutorēto)
• → Portuguese: straight

straight (third-person singular simple present straights, present participle straighting, simple past and past participle straighted)

1. (transitive) To straighten.
   • 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations:

     One man draws out the wire , another straights it , a third cuts it , a fourth points it , a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head

• “straight”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Unadapted borrowing from English straight.

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straight (strong nominative masculine singular straighter, not comparable) (informal)

1. Of a work of art: played straight, not daring to break conventions.
2. straight, heterosexual
   • 2021 June 23, Hengameh Yaghoobifarah, “Queerbaiting in der Popkultur: Die Projektionsflächen”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz‎, →ISSN:

     Keine Ahnung, kann nur sie beantworten. Aber Gegenfrage: Ist man automatisch straight, nur weil man gerade einen Boyfriend hat?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. straight, directly

   Synonyms: direkt, sofort

   • 2021, “BLESSED”, in trip, performed by CRO ft. Capital Bra:

     Und sie staunt nicht schlecht, ja, sie checkt / Dass man straight aus'm Bett ins Meer springen kann, oh yeah

     And she's damn impressed, yeah, she gets / You can jump straight from your bed into the ocean, yeah

• “straight” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “straight” in Duden online

Unadapted borrowing from English straight.

straight m (plural straights)

1. (poker) straight (five cards in sequence)