scarecrow
Americannoun
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scarecrows
plural
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an object, usually a figure of a person in old clothes, set up to frighten crows or other birds away from crops.
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anything frightening but not really dangerous.
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a person in ragged clothes.
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an extremely thin person.
noun
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an object, usually in the shape of a man, made out of sticks and old clothes to scare birds away from crops
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a person or thing that appears frightening but is not actually harmful
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informal
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an untidy-looking person
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a very thin person
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Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of scarecrow
Explanation
Farmers use scarecrows, or human-shaped decoys, to frighten off birds that might eat their seeds or crops. If your sunflowers are being ravaged by starlings, try dressing a scarecrow in your old clothes! Scarecrow dates from the 1550s — earlier it was known as a shoy-hoy, which imitates the cry of a crow. The original scarecrows were actual people who were hired to stand in the middle of a field scaring crows and other birds away. Mannequins dressed in hats and other clothing mainly filled this role starting in the 16th century, and the word soon came to be used as a pejorative description for a "gaunt, ridiculous person" as well.
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:
Susie Parr said looking at her husband's photos of the village's flower show, VE Day events, annual scarecrow festival and Women's Institute meetings had been a "bittersweet experience".
From BBC ● Jun. 28, 2026
The case centers on a two-story yellow house in Norfolk, purchased for $137,000 in 2020, which on Thursday was decorated for fall with mums on the front porch and a scarecrow on the lawn.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
The researchers focused on two key regulators of cell division in Arabidopsis -- proteins called short-root and scarecrow that, together, prompt dividing root cells to make the switch.
From Science Daily ● Feb. 9, 2024
On X, some of the rapper’s fans said that the figure “looks like a fusion of Lil Wayne, Steph Curry, & Bob Marley” and likened it to a scarecrow.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 24, 2023
By the time I had reached the rail fence around our fields, I looked like the scarecrow in Mama’s garden.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
Mr Tayebwa said he has been engaging farmers to use different deterrent methods like scarecrows to protect their crops from invading cranes.
From BBC ● Feb. 15, 2025
On the sides of roads in the oil sands, air cannons boom periodically to keep birds away from the vast toxic ponds and scarecrows dressed as oil workers float above them.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 9, 2023
Leisurely cooking a Julia-inspired feast, soundtracked by my favorite Spotify playlists while leaves fall outside and scarecrows, gourds and Halloween decorations begin to decorate the streets — it doesn't get much better than that.
From Salon ● Sep. 3, 2023
Everywhere I turned, I saw decorations for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all merged into a torture chamber bedecked with lighted trees, inflatable grinches, pumpkins, scarecrows and turkey fryers.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 22, 2022
“For now, I think we need to let your sister rest. Come. Let us go to the kitchen and get you all fed. You look like scarecrows who’ve lost their stuffing.”
From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall
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.
