scarecrow
/'skeəkrou/
Definition
Noun: 1. A human-shaped figure placed in fields to frighten birds away from crops: A scarecrow is a model of a person, traditionally made from old clothes stuffed with straw or other materials, that farmers use to deter birds and other animals from eating seeds or growing plants.
Usage
- Primary Usage: Used to describe the physical object employed in agriculture for crop protection.
- The farmer put up a scarecrow to keep the crows away from his cornfield.
- The old scarecrow stood silently in the field, its hat flapping in the wind.
Advanced Usage
- Metaphorical Use for Appearance: Can describe a person who is dressed in ragged, messy, or ridiculous clothing.
- After playing in the mud, the children looked like scarecrows.
- Symbolic Use: Often symbolizes something that is intended to frighten but is ultimately harmless or ineffective.
- His threats were just a scarecrow; he would never actually do anything.
Variants and Related Words
- Scarecrowish (adjective): Resembling or characteristic of a scarecrow, especially in being thin, ragged, or awkward.
- He had a tall, scarecrowish figure.
Synonyms
- Effigy: A sculpture or model of a person.
- Bird-scarer: A more literal term for an object used to scare birds.
- Hag: (archaic) Could sometimes refer to a frightening figure, but this is not a direct synonym.
Idioms and Phrases
- Like a scarecrow in a thunderstorm: An idiom describing someone who looks utterly helpless, bedraggled, or out of place.
- Standing in the formal ballroom in his gardening clothes, he felt like a scarecrow in a thunderstorm.
Noun
-
an effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from seeds
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