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Straight face   /streɪt feɪs/   Listen
adjective
Straight  adj.  (compar. straighter; superl. straightest)  
1.
Right, in a mathematical sense; passing from one point to another by the nearest course; direct; not deviating or crooked; as, a straight line or course; a straight piece of timber. "And the crooked shall be made straight." "There are many several sorts of crooked lines, but there is only one which is straight."
2.
(Bot.) Approximately straight; not much curved; as, straight ribs are such as pass from the base of a leaf to the apex, with a small curve.
3.
(Card Playing) Composed of cards which constitute a regular sequence, as the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten-spot; as, a straight hand; a straight flush.
4.
Conforming to justice and rectitude; not deviating from truth or fairness; upright; as, straight dealing.
5.
Unmixed; undiluted; as, to take liquor straight. (Slang)
6.
Making no exceptions or deviations in one's support of the organization and candidates of a political party; as, a straight Republican; a straight Democrat; also, containing the names of all the regularly nominated candidates of a party and no others; as, a straight ballot. (Political Cant, U.S.)
Straight arch (Arch.), a form of arch in which the intrados is straight, but with its joints drawn radially, as in a common arch.
A straight face, one giving no evidence of merriment or other emotion.
A straight line. "That which lies evenly between its extreme points." "The shortest line between two points." "A line which has the same direction through its whole length."
Straight-way valve, a valve which, when opened widely, affords a straight passageway, as for water.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Straight face" Quotes from Famous Books



... inconvenient shortage of these troublesome articles and eventually will go off (or perhaps will be sent off with ignominy) to the nearest suitable shop to make good the deficiency. How can we speak here with a straight face of the relation between marginal ...
— Supply and Demand • Hubert D. Henderson

... and to have deep sorrows. You know what a woman means when she talks of her sorrows, and complains that she is not understood. The old ape replied much better than a young man would, and I had the greatest difficulty in keeping a straight face while I ...
— Petty Troubles of Married Life, Second Part • Honore de Balzac

... answer. Then the play begins. The first in line asks his opponent his question and receives the absurd answer three times. If either of them smile he is put out of the game. The person who can keep a straight face to the last, wins the prize. After the whole line has asked and answered the first set of questions, the first couple become the leaders, and propound two other sets of questions and answers. And so on until ...
— What Shall We Do Now?: Five Hundred Games and Pastimes • Dorothy Canfield Fisher

... came, hoo ye said till him that Richard had never been here? Ye never knew why for that man wanted Richard, but I knew an' I never tell't ye. An' if ye had known what I knew, ye never could ha' tell't him what ye did so roundly an' sent him aboot his business wi' a straight face." ...
— The Eye of Dread • Payne Erskine

... "and have seen something of the courts of Europe, but I've yet to meet a diplomat who's peer to the Rajput. You hear a great deal about the astuteness of the Russians and the yellow races, and a Greek or Turk can lie with a fairly straight face when he sees a profit in deception, but none of them is to be classed with these people. If we English ever decide to let India rule herself, her diplomatic corps will be recruited exclusively from the flower of ...
— The Bronze Bell • Louis Joseph Vance


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