From Wentworth & Flexner, Dictionary of American Slang, 1960 edition:
"'Origin of term: the boss attended to the grain going into the thresher; the second-man watched after the straw coming out and hence had little to do.' H. F. Barker. Colloq. since c1900; orig. hobo use."
The old south on plantations that
The slaves worked in the fields. The Straw boss was the man on the horse with the whip to keep order and the slaves working.
Straw
The term nucleus is derived from a Latin word meaning "kernel" or "nut". How is the term nucleus related to its Latin term of origin? The nucleus is like the inside of a nut, and is shaped like a nut.
Night Night!
German
The term stake out was first used around 1942. The origin of the term is believed to have come from the act of marking off territory with stakes. It now means to maintain surveillance.
family of origin
Bosses like foremen often have assistants who act in their place when they can't be present. They are only there to do the routine jobs of their boss - not to set the tone of how the workplace will function like their boss would. Thus, like straw, they blow whichever way the wind (the real boss) blows. Like a straw man/boss they are just a copy of a real boss.
The phrase "the last straw" originates from the idiom "the straw that broke the camel's back," which refers to a seemingly minor or routine occurrence that triggers a disproportionate reaction due to the accumulation of previous stress. Just as a camel can carry a heavy load until one final straw causes it to collapse, this phrase describes a situation where a small event leads to a significant outcome.
The origin of naming the final enemy in a level or game a "boss" cannot be readily traced, but Kotaku points to the term coming from the crime boss of a criminal gang.
you hit him when his in midair
Synonyms for figurehead:cipher, front*, mouthpiece, nominal head, nonentity, nothing, puppet*, straw boss, straw person, titular head, token
A bang straw is an obsolete term for a thresher, but used for all the servants of a farmer.
Bwana
greek is the origin of oceanography
lahar is the term for mass movement that is volcanic in origin
It may harken back to the day when the Israelistes were slaves for the Pharoh and he increased their quota of bricks to make and withheld the important component of straw. I imagine the slaves had to procure the necessary straw through a straw purchase, since they could not purchase the straw for making the bricks. That is my guess until a better one comes along.
The term is etymology.
Glacial drift is the term for all sediments of glacier origin.