crowbar
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
See Examples For:
It shows Hsiung, in a dark jacket and tie, trying to pry open a metal door with a crowbar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Whoever is given the job of informing him of that had better take a handful of sedatives and a crowbar to pry the president off the wall of the Oval Office.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2026
Armed with nothing but a crowbar and shovel in the hills of Somaliland, Ahmed Ibrahim hacks away at rocks where he and fellow miners have already found tonnes of lithium.
From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026
With a crowbar I could have reached down and touched them, felt the pulse of the world’s information traveling through my fingertips.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 28, 2025
And if their mother wanted to wash their armpits, she would have to get a crowbar and pry their arms up, because they sure as heck were not going to move.
From "Maniac Magee" by Jerry Spinelli
In the port of La Guaira, one of the hardest-hit cities, the BBC saw people using crowbars, mallets and pickaxes to try to dig out loved ones and neighbours.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
They had all the equipment at the ready: crowbars, shovels, and mallets.
From Slate ● Dec. 15, 2024
The Times wasn’t able to independently confirm if crowbars were used to hit officers.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2024
During those searches, two blue crowbars, pruning shears and a cutting tool were found in a nearby pond and in the Paar River, the statement said.
From New York Times ● Jul. 21, 2023
The men with picks and crowbars scurried away from the base of the cliffs.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Springboks skipper Kolisi became the third player to go to the sin-bin - his hit on Savea slipping high - and New Zealand, briefly back level in terms of personnel, crowbarred the game open again.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2023
At one point, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Davy Klaassen and a returned Wayne Rooney were crowbarred into the same team.
From The Guardian ● Sep. 14, 2020
Crisp, thin French fries are crowbarred into the taco, gently punctuated with green and red salsa and the bracing freshness of cilantro and onion.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2019
Of course, I've crowbarred in some time with my family, but otherwise it's almost a given that I'll be absent at all the BBQs, birthday parties and other special occasions.
From BBC ● May 19, 2016
Despite the cold, they sweated profusely at their tasks, stripping off over-garments as they picked and shoveled or crowbarred out the rich gravel.
From A Man to His Mate by Mulford, Stockton
Sometimes it goes against Ancelotti’s own preferences but he is not just crowbarring players in any old place to get as many stars in the side as he can.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 27, 2014
That mention of the Mad Squirrels, a nickname that is always worth crowbarring in, also allows a quick nod to the quietly impressive progress that is being made in the Czech Republic.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 12, 2013
But with our third paragraph well underway and confidence about crowbarring a gag in any sentence now, let's address Barcelona's bid, believed to be worth just over £29m.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 2, 2010
“Well, in crowbarring me out of your scheme of life, if you insist on knowing,” were the words that came from the husband sitting so close beside me.
From The Prairie Child by Ward. E. F. (Edmund Franklin)
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.
