scarecrow.
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.
Meaning & usage
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.
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.
Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds from the fields”).
Anything that appears terrifying but presents no danger; a paper tiger.
Military equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.
The black tern (Chlidonias niger).
The hooded crow (Corvus cornix).
Where this word comes from
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.
To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff, like a scarecrow (noun sense 1).
To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff, like a scarecrow (noun sense 1). To splay (one's arms) away from the body, like the arms of a scarecrow.
To frighten or terrify (someone or something), as if using a scarecrow.
To spoil the appearance of (something, such as the landscape or a view), as scarecrows may be regarded as doing.
Where this word comes from
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.
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.