1. A fictitious person, esp. one that is weak or flawed.
2. A tenuous and exaggerated counterargument that an advocate puts forward for the sole purpose of disproving it. — Also termed straw-man argument.
3. A third party used in some transactions as a temporary transferee to allow the principal parties to accomplish something that is otherwise impermissible. Cf. DUMMY.
4. A person hired to post a worthless bail bond for the release of an accused. — Also termed stramineus homo. See MEN OF STRAW.