WordWeight : Weighing the Words

Pronunciation : Jack"straw`
Part of Speech : n.
Definition : 1. An effigy stuffed with straw; a scarecrow; hence, a man without property or influence. Milton.

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.
Source : Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913