straight arrow

plural straight arrows · alternative straight-arrow

1. USinformalSomeone who behaves according to conventional standards; one noted for honesty and integrity.

   If there is any man in our family who was and is a straight arrow, it is Kearn.

   2012, Allen J. Roy, Lemme Tell You a Story: Memoirs of REV. Msgr. Allen J. Roy, page 32

   4 more examples

   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.

   1965 April 2, Paul O'Neil, “Bradley: good man and true”, in LIFE, volume 58, number 13, page 93

   But he might not be a straight arrow. I'm going to get the dirt on him from someone.

   1988, Diana McRae, All the Muscle You Need, page 36

   My great-grandpa had a reputation as a straight arrow, because he was so honest in all his dealings.

   2011, Ruth Jean Dale, Kids, Critters and Cupid

   I folded my arms across my chest. "I'm about to open a weed café! How is that being a straight arrow?"

   2023, Emily George, A Half-Baked Murder, page 231

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see straight, arrow.

   "It's a straight arrow approach," he said.

   1970, United States. Congress. Economic Joint Committee, The Dismissal of A. Ernest Fitzgerald by the Department of Defense, page 197

   4 more examples

   The goal can not be attained by a straight arrow flight.

   1908, Charles Francis Horne, The Technique of the Novel, page 28

   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.

   1995, Gerhard Sonnert, Gerald James Holton, Who Succeeds in Science?: The Gender Dimension, page viii

   It's best to have both, a balanced bow and a straight arrow.

   2005, Larry Lichtenwalter, David--Dancing Like a King, page 140

   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.

   2014, Chun Liu, Principle and Application Progress in Location-Based Services, page 283