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scarecrow

American  
[skair-kroh] / ˈskɛərˌkroʊ /

noun

  1. an object, usually a figure of a person in old clothes, set up to frighten crows crow or other birds away from crops.

  2. anything frightening but not really dangerous.

  3. a person in ragged clothes.

  4. an extremely thin person.

scarecrow British  
/ ˈskɛəˌkrəʊ /

noun

  1. an object, usually in the shape of a man, made out of sticks and old clothes to scare birds away from crops

  2. a person or thing that appears frightening but is not actually harmful

  3. informal

    1. an untidy-looking person

    2. a very thin person

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • scarecrowish adjective
  • scarecrowy adjective

Etymology

Origin of scarecrow

First recorded in 1545–55; scare + crow 1

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.