scarecrow
UK /ˈskɛəkɹəʊ/ · US /ˈskɛɚˌkɹoʊ/ noun, verb
Forms scarecrows scarecrowing scarecrowed scare-crow skarcrow
- noun An effigy, typically made of straw and dressed in old clothes, fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there.
- noun (by extension, derogatory) A person or animal regarded as resembling a scarecrow (sense 1) in some way; especially, a tall, thin, awkward person; or a person wearing ragged and tattered clothes.
- noun (dated) Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds from the fields”).
- noun Anything that appears terrifying but presents no danger; a paper tiger.
- noun (military, World War II, historical) Military equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.
- noun The black tern (Chlidonias niger).
- noun The hooded crow (Corvus cornix).
- verb To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff, like a scarecrow (noun sense 1).
- verb To splay (one's arms) away from the body, like the arms of a scarecrow.
- verb To frighten or terrify (someone or something), as if using a scarecrow.
- verb (archaic) To spoil the appearance of (something, such as the landscape or a view), as scarecrows may be regarded as doing.
Synonyms
beanpole crow scarer bird-scarer crowkeeper frayboggard gallicrow gallybagger malkin mammet potato-bogle scare-beggar scare-the-birds straw man strawman scarer
Etymology
The noun is derived from scare (“to frighten, startle, terrify”) + crow (“bird of the genus Corvus”). The word displaced other terms such as bogle (now dialectal, dated), sewel or shewel, and shoy-hoy (perhaps imitative of the cry of crows).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Webster’s 1913
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “scarecrow”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details