Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A large stack of hay, especially one left in a field.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A large stack or pile of hay, made in the open air as a means of storing or preserving the hay.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A stack or conical pile of hay in the open air.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A mound, pile, or stack of stored hay.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a stack of hay

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From hay + stack.

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Examples

  • NSA thinks the way you find a needle in a haystack is to add more hay.

    Think Progress » Specter announces hearings on NSA program. 2006

  • Case researchers discover methods to find 'needles in haystack' in data

    Politics; Law & Tech; Science 2005

  • The competition is administered by HASTAC "haystack"---Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, an innovative "Web 2.0" virtual institution of more than eighty institutes, centers, and community organizations anchored at the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

    Hey Web 2 teacher -- Do you want $100,000? 2007

  • The competition is administered by HASTAC "haystack"---Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory, an innovative "Web 2.0" virtual institution of more than eighty institutes, centers, and community organizations anchored at the University of California Humanities Research Institute and the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

    Archive 2007-08-01 2007

  • "It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and the haystack is the Pacific Ocean," agent Tim Feige says, minutes before sunrise.

    Illegal Immigrants Turn To The Sea To Slip Into U.S. 2010

  • " Finding a needle in a haystack is a heck of a lot easier if the haystack has 2,500 needles " .

    Webheads Descend on Paris Ben Rooney 2010

  • And if you can develop a machine to look for the needle in the haystack and what you come out with from having the machine sift through the haystack is a box of straw, where maybe the needle's in there and maybe a few bonus needles, then that's a whole lot better than having humans try to sift through a haystack.

    Wired Top Stories 2009

  • And if you can develop a machine to look for the needle in the haystack and what you come out with from having the machine sift through the haystack is a box of straw, where maybe the needle's in there and maybe a few bonus needles, then that's a whole lot better than having humans try to sift through a haystack.

    unknown title 2009

  • I love reading differing views and trying to seek out the "needle" truth in the media "haystack" - sotospeak.

    Obama's longtime doctor says healthcare reform plan falls short 2009

  • And if you can develop a machine to look for the needle in the haystack and what you come out with from having the machine sift through the haystack is a box of straw, where maybe the needle's in there and maybe a few bonus needles, then that's a whole lot better than having humans try to sift through a haystack.

    unknown title 2009

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