scarecrownoun/ˈskɛəkɹəʊ/

• 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; […]
• 2

  derogatoryA 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: […]
• 3

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

• 4

  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.
  • The greateſt burden in the vvorld is ſuperſtition; not onely of Ceremonies in the Church, but of imaginary and ſcarcrovv ſins at home.
• 5

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

• 6

  obsoletedialectalThe black tern (Chlidonias niger).

• 7

  obsoletedialectalThe hooded crow (Corvus cornix).

scarecrowverb/ˈskɛəkɹəʊ/

• 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.
• 2

  To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff, like a scarecrow (noun sense 1).

  • 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.
• 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; […]
• 4

  archaicTo 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 vicinage of the temple of Neptune, we dared not venture upon fish with green bones,—the only dish served up for our repast; […] we all preferred bearing our hunger, and traversing a second time the fiery plain unrefreshed, to breaking our fast upon such suspicious diet; […]