catch at straws

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

But the frail death-agony effort to catch at straws of memory, straws of life from the past, brought on too great a nausea.

From England, My England by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)

Mr. Shepley pretended to think that the picture resembled his wife, and this idea was seized upon as drowning men catch at straws.

From Half a Century by Swisshelm, Jane Grey Cannon

It is well said, a drowning man will catch at straws.

From Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries Volumes I. and II., Complete by Hogan, William

Drowning men, as you know, catch at straws; and this is a wise arrangement, for otherwise they would not often be saved by planks.

From Forty Years in the Wilderness of Pills and Powders Cogitations and Confessions of an Aged Physician by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)

Drowning men catch at straws, and the spectacled visage of the auctioneer, as he clings wildly to his rostrum, is a perfect study of terrified imbecility.

From English Caricaturists and Graphic Humourists of the Nineteenth Century. How they Illustrated and Interpreted their Times. by Everitt, Graham