skarcrow

Noun

scarecrow (plural scarecrows)

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: […]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
2. (broadly, 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.
   • 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

   Synonyms:

   beanpole

3. (dated) Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds from the fields”).

   Synonyms:

   crow scarer

4. (figuratively) 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]...
5. (figuratively, historical, World War II) Military equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.
6. (UK, dialectal, obsolete) The black tern (Chlidonias niger).

See all 11 meanings of scarecrow