Link Centre Dictionary

scarecrow

sca·rec·row

UK/ˈskɛəkɹəʊ/ US/ˈskɛɚˌkɹoʊ/ fairly common uk

noun

1.

an effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from seeds

Synonyms

Origin

The noun is derived from scare (“to frighten, startle, terrify”) + crow (“bird of the genus Corvus”). The word displaced other terms such as bogle (now dialectal, dated), sewel or shewel, and shoy-hoy (perhaps imitative of the cry of crows). The verb is derived from the noun.

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.