• (RP) IPA: /ˈskɛə.kɹəʊ/
• (GA) IPA: /ˈskɛəɹ.kɹoʊ/

scarecrow (plural scarecrows)

1. An effigy, typically made of [[straw and dressed in old clothes, fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating seeds or crops planted there.]]
2. (figuratively, pejorative) A tall, [[thin, awkward person.]]
3. (figurative) Anything that appears terrifying but presents no [[danger.]]

   • a scarecrow set to frighten fools away

   • 1983, Saskatchewan Law Review (volume 48, page 114)

     The Canada West Foundation dismisses these concerns as "political scarecrows"; fearsome at first glance but irrelevant on closer examination. Unfortunately the problems of an elected Senate cannot be dismissed so easily.

4. A person clad in rags and tatters.
   • c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene ii]:

     No eye hath seen such scarecrows. I'll not march with them through Coventry, that's flat.

5. (UK, dialect) A bird, the [[black tern.]]

• (effigy made of straw) See Thesaurus:scarecrow

• crow scarer
• scarer

• French: épouvantail
• German: Vogelscheuche
• Italian: spaventapasseri, (obsolete) spauracchio
• Portuguese: espantalho
• Russian: пу́гало
• Spanish: espantapájaros

• French: épouvantail
• Italian: spilungone, spilungona
• Spanish: espantajo

scarecrow (scarecrows, present participle scarecrowing; past and past participle scarecrowed)

1. (transitive) To splay [[rigidly outward, like the arms of a scarecrow.]]