scarecrow
Syllables: scare·crow/ˈskɛəkɹəʊ/US/ˈskɛɚˌkɹoʊ/
scarecrow 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
scarecrow (plural scarecrows)
- 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: […]1637, Thomas Heywood, The Royall King, and the Loyall Subject. […], London: […] Nich[olas] and John Okes, for James Becket, […], →OCLC, Act III, signature E4, verso
- [W]e ſet him [the Devil] up like a Scare-Crovv to fright Children and old VVomen, to fill up old Stories, make Songs and Ballads, and in a VVord, carry on the lovv priz'd Buffoonry of the common People; […]1726, [Daniel Defoe], “Of the Manner of Satan’s Acting and Carrying on His Affairs in This World, and Particularly of His Ordinary Workings in the Dark, by Possession and Agitation”, in The Political...
- 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.
- 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; […]1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, , stanzas 6–7, page 220
- No eye hath ſeene ſuch skarcrovves. Ile not march vvith them through Couentry vvith them, thats flat: […]c. 1597 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The History of Henrie the Fourth; […], quarto edition, London: […] P[eter] S[hort] for Andrew Wise, […], published 1598, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]
- Synonyms:
- beanpole
- Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds from the fields”).
- Synonyms:
- crow scarer
- Anything that appears terrifying but presents no danger; a paper tiger.
- 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.1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]... - The greateſt burden in the vvorld is ſuperſtition; not onely of Ceremonies in the Church, but of imaginary and ſcarcrovv ſins at home.1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], “To the Parlament of England, with the Assembly”, in The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC
- VVith ſcoffes and ſcornes, and contumelious taunts,
- Military equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.
- The black tern (Chlidonias niger).
- The hooded crow (Corvus cornix).
Verb
scarecrow (third-person singular simple present scarecrows, present participle scarecrowing, simple past and past participle scarecrowed)
- To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff, like a scarecrow (noun sense 1).
- 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.1993, Jeffrey Eugenides, chapter 5, in The Virgin Suicides, New York, N.Y.: Picador, →ISBN, page 224
- [H]is small frame seeming scarecrowed in the over-large black coat.2006, Ron S. King, Nowhere Street, page 109
- To splay (one's arms) away from the body, like the arms of a scarecrow.
- 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; […]1958 February 17, Frederick Buechner, chapter I, in The Return of Ansel Gibbs, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published April 1958, →OCLC, page 14
- An arctic wind whooshes down Columbus Avenue like the IRT express, catching her bags, scarecrowing her arms, and threatening to take her broad-brimmed hat downtown.2010 May 3, Robert N. Chan, “If Pigs Flu”, in The Bad Samaritan, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN
- To frighten or terrify (someone or something), as if using a scarecrow.
- [T]hat old acquaintance, […] is neither lullabied with thy sweete Papp, nor ſcarre-crowed with thy ſower hatchet.1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], “An Advertisement for Pap-hatchet, and Martin Mar-prelate”, in Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger...
- It has been said of Mr. [Welby] Pugin that he patronises bad drawing, and now we perceive that he patronises very queer perspective, and very bad colouring also; […] Could we fancy that the mode of representation adopted by the latter [Pugin] were so with the intention of scarecrowing people away...1849 June, “Architecture,—Royal Academy”, in The Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal, Scientific and Railway Gazette, volume XII, number 141, London: R. Groombridge and Sons, […], →OCLC, page 164...
- To spoil the appearance of (something, such as the landscape or a view), as scarecrows may be regarded as doing.
- 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...1853 October, “Pike, Salmon, Silurus, Herring, and Company. Esox or Pike.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume XLVIII, number CCLXXXVI, London: John W[illiam] Parker and Son, […]...
scarecrow meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali and Telugu
scarecrow in Hindi
- effigy fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there
- बिजूका bijūkā, धड़खा dhaṛkhā
scarecrow in Tamil
- effigy fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there
- சொக்கன் cokkaṉ, சோளக்காட்டுபொம்மை cōḷakkāṭṭupommai, சோளக்கொல்லைப்பொம்மை cōḷakkollaippommai, வெருளி veruḷi
scarecrow in Bengali
- effigy fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there
- কাকতাড়ুয়া kaktaṛuẏa
scarecrow in Telugu
- effigy fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there
- దిష్టిబొమ్మ diṣṭibomma, వెరబొమ్మ verabomma, దృష్టిబొమ్మ dr̥ṣṭibomma
More languagesFewer languages
- scarecrow in Malayalam
- നോക്കുകുത്തി nōkkukutti
- scarecrow in Kannada
- ಬೆದರುಗೊಂಬೆ bedarugombe, ಬೆಚ್ಚು beccu, ಬೆಚ್ಚಿಗ becciga, ಗುಮ್ಮ gumma
- scarecrow in Punjabi
- ਡਰੋਣਾ ḍaroṇā
- scarecrow in Gujarati
- ચાડિયો cāḍiyo
- scarecrow in Assamese
- চৌ sou
- scarecrow in Tagalog
- alay-ay, balyan, espantaho
- scarecrow in Arabic
- فَزَّاعَة fazzāʕa
- scarecrow in Malay
- orang-orang
- scarecrow in Indonesian
- orang-orangan, orang-orangan sawah, penakut burung
- scarecrow in Thai
- หุ่นไล่กา hùn-lâi-gaa
- scarecrow in Vietnamese
- bẹo chim, bồ nhìn, bù nhìn, mặt mả
- scarecrow in Myanmar
- စာချောက်ရုပ် cahkyauk-rup
Examples of scarecrow in a sentence
- Priapus was frequently represented sculpturally, as a kind of scarecrow among the fields and even as a protection over graveyards.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 198:
- A ſcarecrow, ſet to frighten fools away; / Marriage has joys; and you ſhall have aſſay.a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “Daphnis. From the Twenty-seventh Idyllium of Theocritus.”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden...
- The Canada West Foundation dismisses these concerns as "political scarecrows"; fearsome at first glance but irrelevant on closer examination.1983, Saskatchewan Law Review, volume 48, Saskatoon, Sask.: College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, →OCLC, page 114:
- Because it was the end of the dry season, the trees were Seussian, their branches scarecrowing over lawns of brown grass.2007, Dave Bidini, “Freetown”, in Around the World in 57½ Gigs, Toronto, Ont.: McClelland & Stewart, →ISBN, page 266:
Synonyms of scarecrow
- beanpole
- crow scarer
- bird-scarer
- gallicrow
- gallybagger
- mammet
- scare-the-birds
- crowkeeper
- frayboggard
- malkin
2 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of scarecrow
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | scarecrows |
| alternative form (obsolete) | scare-crow |
| alternative form (obsolete) | skarcrow |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | scarecrows |
| present participle | scarecrowing |
| past participle | scarecrowed |
| past | scarecrowed |
Origin of scarecrow
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.
Words formed from scarecrow
Questions about scarecrow
- What does scarecrow mean?
- Scarecrow means 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.
- What is scarecrow in Hindi?
- Scarecrow in Hindi is बिजूका (bijūkā), धड़खा (dhaṛkhā). See Scarecrow meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use scarecrow in a sentence?
- Priapus was frequently represented sculpturally, as a kind of scarecrow among the fields and even as a protection over graveyards.
- What part of speech is scarecrow?
- Scarecrow can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce scarecrow?
- Scarecrow is pronounced /ˈskɛəkɹəʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of scarecrow?
- The plural of scarecrow is scarecrows.
Words near scarecrow in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: scarecrow (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-scarecrow.wav.
Cite this entry: “scarecrow.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/scarecrow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.