A scarecrow or hay-man is a decoy or mannequin in the shape of a human which is dressed in old clothes and placed in fields to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.
Famous quotes containing the word scarecrow:
“Now stamp the Lord’s Prayer on a grain of rice,
A Bible-leaved of all the written woods
Strip to this tree: a rocking alphabet,
Genesis in the root, the scarecrow word,
And one light’s language in the book of trees.”
—Dylan Thomas (1914–1953)
“We must not make a scarecrow of the law,
Setting it up to fear the birds of prey,
And let it keep one shape, till custom make it
Their perch and not their terror.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)