from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Jackstraw \Jack"straw`\, n.
1. An effigy stuffed with straw; a scarecrow; hence, a man
without property or influence. --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
2. One of a set of straws of strips of ivory, bone, wood,
etc., for playing a child's game, the jackstraws being
thrown confusedly together on a table, to be gathered up
singly by a hooked instrument, without touching or
disturbing the rest of the pile. See {Spilikin}. A modern
variation, called {pick-up-sticks} (U.S. 1940+), is played
with thin wooden sticks of different colors, each color
having different values for scoring; the sticks are
dislodged from the pile with the hand or with one of the
sticks.
[1913 Webster +PJC]