crowbar
Americannoun
-
crowbars
plural
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
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
By now, Zhao’s at it again with the crowbar, jimmying our hearts open for one last tearjerk.
From Salon ● Nov. 30, 2025
She said another lock appeared to have been tampered with "using a crowbar or similar tool", but to no avail.
From BBC ● Nov. 15, 2025
Tools for emergency, tow lines, a small block and tackle, a trenching tool and crowbar, tools for making and fixing and improvising.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
We saw families and volunteers, wearing masks and rubber gloves, trying to dig through the rubble with spades and crowbars.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 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
“Search the cargo,” he commanded the soldiers, who laid down their weapons and picked up crowbars.
From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson
England stemmed the haemorrhaging of points at the other end, however - perhaps helped by some understandable Springbok complacency - and briefly crowbarred their way back into the contest.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
"Nothing has been crowbarred in and these aren't random fillers, they are wonderful bits that we didn't ever want to get rid of but had to."
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2024
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
We began to climb hills, and then we stopped—at night in darkness, while men threw sand under the wheels and crowbarred the track and then "guessed" that we might proceed.
From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling
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.
