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.

Not a few joined it, indeed, as a last resort, after having tried every thing else, as drowning men are said to catch at straws.

From Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages Including a System of Vegetable Cookery by Alcott, William A. (William Andrus)

The American Board, I am sorry to feel and think, are good at attempting to catch at straws when important missionary objects have been faithfully placed before them.

From A History of Oregon, 1792-1849 Drawn From Personal Observation and Authentic Information by Gray, William Henry

What could possess me to make such a request of such a man I cannot tell; but drowning men catch at straws: they had driven me desperate between them; I hardly knew what I said. 

From The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Brontë, Anne

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

Drowning people, it is said, catch at straws.

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