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Scarecrow
Definitions
- 1 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.
"VVots thou vvho's returnd, / The unthrift Bonvile, ragged as a ſcarre-crovv, / The VVarres have gnavv'd his garments to the skinne: […]"
- 2 an effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from seeds wordnet
- 3 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. broadly, derogatory
"The ſeely man ſeeing him ryde ſo ranck, / And ayme at him, fell flatt to ground for feare, / And crying Mercy loud, his pitious handes gan reare. // Thereat the Scarcrovv vvexed vvondrous provvd, / Through fortune of his firſt aduenture fayre, / And vvith big thundring voice reuyld him lovvd; […]"
- 4 Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds from the fields”). dated
- 5 Anything that appears terrifying but presents no danger; a paper tiger. figuratively
"VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts, In open Market-place produc't they me, To be a publique ſpectacle to all: Here, ſayd they, is the Terror of the French, The Scar-Crovv that affrights our Children ſo."
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- 6 Military equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage. figuratively, historical
- 7 The black tern (Chlidonias niger). British, dialectal, obsolete
- 8 The hooded crow (Corvus cornix). British, dialectal, obsolete
- 1 To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff, like a scarecrow (noun sense 1). transitive
"It felt as though the house could keep disgorging debris forever, a tidal wave of unmatched slippers and dresses scarecrowed on hangers, and after sifting through it all we would still know nothing."
- 2 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. transitive
"With his stiff, awkward body, his knees bent, his arms scarecrowed far to either side, he had acted it all out, had been Adam trembling in the garden of his lost innocence, Moses on Sinai, Jahweh creating the heavens and the earth; […]"
- 3 To frighten or terrify (someone or something), as if using a scarecrow. transitive
"[T]hat old acquaintance, […] is neither lullabied with thy sweete Papp, nor ſcarre-crowed with thy ſower hatchet."
- 4 To spoil the appearance of (something, such as the landscape or a view), as scarecrows may be regarded as doing. archaic, transitive
"Fatigued and hungry as our party were after a long drive through the desolate region of malaria, wild buffaloes, wild birds, and yet wilder specimens of the human race, which here and there scare-crow the broad, sadly picturesque expanse between the last cork-trees near Salerno, and the treeless vicinage of the temple of Neptune, we dared not venture upon fish with green bones,—the only dish served up for our repast; […] we all preferred bearing our hunger, and traversing a second time the fiery plain unrefreshed, to breaking our fast upon such suspicious diet; […]"
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.
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.
See also for "scarecrow"
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