scarecrow

Fetched 2026-10-26 (cache).

Synonyms: sharecrop, scarecrows, scarrow

Antonyms: sharecrop, scarecrows, scarrow

Related words from Datamuse; suggestions, not definitions.

Noun

An [[effigy]], typically [[make#Verb|made]] of [[straw#Noun|straw]] and [[dress#Verb|dressed]] in [[old#Adjective|old]] [[clothes]], [[fix#Verb|fixed]] to a [[pole#Noun|pole]] in a [[field#Noun|field]] to [[deter]] [[bird#Noun|birds]] from [[eat#Verb|eating]] [[crop#Noun|crops]] or [[seed#Noun|seeds]] [[plant#Verb|planted]] there. {{defdate|from 1530s}}
{{lb|en|by extension|derogatory}} A [[person#Noun|person]] or [[animal]] [[regard#Verb|regarded]] as [[resemble|resembling]] a scarecrow ''(sense 1)'' in some way; especially, a [[tall#Adjective|tall]], [[thin#Adjective|thin]], [[awkward#Adjective|awkward]] person; or a person [[wear#Verb|wearing]] [[ragged#Adjective|ragged]] and [[tattered#Adjective|tattered]] clothes.
{{lb|en|dated}} {{synonym of|en|crow scarer|t=a [[farmhand]] [[employ#Verb|employed]] to [[scare#Verb|scare]] [[bird#Noun|birds]] from the [[field#Noun|fields]]}}.
{{lb|en|figuratively}}
{{lb|en|Britain|dialectal|obsolete}}

To [[cause#Verb|cause]] (a [[person#Noun|person]], their [[body#Noun|body]], etc.) to [[look#Verb|look]] [[awkward#Adjective|awkward]] and [[stiff#Adjective|stiff]], like a [[scarecrow#Noun|scarecrow]] ''(noun sense 1)''.
To [[frighten]] or [[terrify]] (someone or something), as if [[use#Verb|using]] a scarecrow.
{{lb|en|archaic}} To [[spoil#Verb|spoil]] the [[appearance]] of (something, such as the [[landscape#Noun|landscape]] or a [[view#Noun|view]]), as scarecrows may be [[regard#Verb|regarded]] as doing.

Source: Wiktionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wiktionary dump) · cached copy, not a rewrite.