straight arrow

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English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From archery, in which an arrow that has a straight shaft flies where you shoot it, while a crooked arrow will veer off.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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straight arrow (plural straight arrows)

  1. (US, informal) Someone who behaves according to conventional standards; one noted for honesty and integrity.
    • 1965 April 2, Paul O'Neil, “Bradley: good man and true”, in LIFE, volume 58, number 13, page 93:
      He was put down at first as a "straight arrow" — a do-gooder — and the description was sometimes accompanied by the cry, "ugh." as in old Westerns when the settler is shot by the wily redskin.
    • 1988, Diana McRae, All the Muscle You Need, page 36:
      But he might not be a straight arrow. I'm going to get the dirt on him from someone.
    • 2011, Ruth Jean Dale, Kids, Critters and Cupid:
      My great-grandpa had a reputation as a straight arrow, because he was so honest in all his dealings.
    • 2012, Allen J. Roy, Lemme Tell You a Story: Memoirs of REV. Msgr. Allen J. Roy, page 32:
      If there is any man in our family who was and is a straight arrow, it is Kearn.
    • 2023, Emily George, A Half-Baked Murder, page 231:
      I folded my arms across my chest. "I'm about to open a weed café! How is that being a straight arrow?"
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see straight,‎ arrow.
    • 1908, Charles Francis Horne, The Technique of the Novel, page 28:
      The goal can not be attained by a straight arrow flight.
    • 1970, United States. Congress. Economic Joint Committee, The Dismissal of A. Ernest Fitzgerald by the Department of Defense, page 197:
      "It's a straight arrow approach," he said.
    • 1995, Gerhard Sonnert, Gerald James Holton, Who Succeeds in Science?: The Gender Dimension, page viii:
      It will be reassuring to many who read this book to learn that success can be achieved by both a straight arrow path and a spiral path.
    • 2005, Larry Lichtenwalter, David--Dancing Like a King, page 140:
      It's best to have both, a balanced bow and a straight arrow.
    • 2014, Chun Liu, Principle and Application Progress in Location-Based Services, page 283:
      A straight arrow on the pavement means the lane is only for traffic moving straight ahead and that a vehicle in the lane should not turn either right or left.
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See also

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Further reading

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