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crowbar

American  
[kroh-bahr] / ˈkroʊˌbɑr /

noun

  1. Also called crow.  a steel bar, usually flattened and slightly bent at one or both ends, used as a lever.

verb (used with object)

crowbarred, crowbarring

  1. to pry open, loosen, etc., with a crowbar.

    We had to crowbar a window to get in.
crowbar British  
/ ˈkrəʊˌbɑː /

noun

  1. a heavy iron lever with one pointed end, and one forged into a wedge shape

"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

Etymology

Origin of crowbar

1740–50, crow 1 + bar 1; so called because one end was beak-shaped

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A gas station, post office, general store and the Crowbar Café & Saloon anchor the town.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 5, 2026

At Crowbar, a concert venue in Tampa, owner Tom DeGeorge has been forced to raise prices on everything from tickets to drinks at the bar.

From Washington Post • Mar. 10, 2022

Tom DeGeorge runs the popular Crowbar club in Tampa, Florida, that once hosted about 300 concerts a year, mostly touring bands.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 26, 2021

Lucy said the grand-prize winner will receive the coveted Golden Crowbar.

From Washington Post • Sep. 14, 2015

He'd scarcely closed his quiet eyes or drawn a sleeping breath — They say that Crowbar slept no more until he slept in death.

From In the Days When the World Was Wide and Other Verses by Lawson, Henry

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.