straight arrow

English

Alternative forms

• straight-arrow

Etymology

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

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.

Related terms

• straight as an arrow

Translations

Translations

See also

• straight shooter

Further reading

• “straight arrow”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “straight arrow”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “straight arrow” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.

Anagrams

• arrow-straight