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.

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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

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Etymology

Origin of crowbar

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

Example Sentences

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

If our hearts weren’t already open, they’ve just been forced ajar with a rusty, emotional crowbar.

From Salon • Nov. 30, 2025

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

He took his buckets and jars and his crowbar and put his sandwiches in one pocket and his thermos bottle in another pocket and he went down the cliff to the tidal flat.

From "Cannery Row" by John Steinbeck

Related Words

• chisel
• lever