scarecrow

noun

1. 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: […]

   [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; […]

   The things which he had to put on were so old and ragged that they would scarce hold together; and they were so dirty that no ragamuffin of the street would have picked them out of the gutter; no scarecrow in the fields ever had such clothes.

   Priapus was frequently represented sculpturally, as a kind of scarecrow among the fields and even as a protection over graveyards.

2. 2

   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; […]

   No eye hath ſeene ſuch skarcrovves. Ile not march vvith them through Couentry vvith them, thats flat: […]

   So, a true Souldier, / He is his Countreys ſtrength, his Soueraignes ſafety, / And to ſecure his peace, he makes himſelfe / The heyre of danger, nay the ſubiect of it, / And runnes thoſe vertuous hazards, that this Scarre-crovv / Cannot endure to heare of.

   In opposition to this society, there sprung up another composed of scarecrows and skeletons, who, being very meagre and envious, did all they could to thwart the designs of their bulky brethren, whom they represented as men of dangerous principles; […]

3. 3

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

4. 4

   figurativeAnything 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.

   The greateſt burden in the vvorld is ſuperſtition; not onely of Ceremonies in the Church, but of imaginary and ſcarcrovv ſins at home.

   A ſcarecrow, ſet to frighten fools away; / Marriage has joys; and you ſhall have aſſay.

   The Canada West Foundation dismisses these concerns as "political scarecrows"; fearsome at first glance but irrelevant on closer examination. Unfortunately the problems of an elected Senate cannot be dismissed so easily.

5. 5

   figurativeMilitary equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.

6. 6

   obsoleteThe black tern (Chlidonias niger).

7. 7

   obsoleteThe hooded crow (Corvus cornix).

verb

1. 1

   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.

   [H]is small frame seeming scarecrowed in the over-large black coat.

   Because it was the end of the dry season, the trees were Seussian, their branches scarecrowing over lawns of brown grass.

   In the mirror on the opposite wall he can see gray half-moons hanging under his eyes, his hair scarecrowing in tufts and waves.

2. 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.

   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; […]

   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.

   He scarecrowed his arms. 'Disya belong to mi. Lang time mi wait fa dis. City nuh change.'

3. 3

   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.

   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 from those drawings, there might be some policy in it; […]

   Who is this ugly young man with large feet, scarecrowing the pretty birds from my crops?

   [W]e weren't doing any harm, only going into the fields, and making ourselves scarecrows to the birds. […] Then when I went scarecrowing with the big ones, she'd [his mother would] lead me a terrible life when I got back, threatening to turn me out.

4. 4

   archaicTo spoil the appearance of (something, such as the landscape or a view), as scarecrows may be regarded as doing.

Forms

plural

scarecrows

past tense

scarecrowed

past participle

scarecrowed

present participle

scarecrowing

third person singular

scarecrows