scarecrow

An effigy, typically made of straw and dressed in old clothes, fixed to a pole in a field to deter birds from eating crops or seeds planted there.

A person or animal regarded as resembling a scarecrow in some way; especially, a tall, thin, awkward person; or a person wearing ragged and tattered clothes.

(figurative) Anything that appears terrifying but presents no danger; a paper tiger.

(figurative, historical) Military equipment or tactics used to scare and deter rather than cause actual damage.

(old-fashioned) Synonym of crow scarer (“a farmhand employed to scare birds from the fields”).

(dialect, no longer used) The black tern (Chlidonias niger).

(dialect, no longer used) The hooded crow (Corvus cornix).

To cause (a person, their body, etc.) to look awkward and stiff, like a scarecrow.

To splay (one's arms) away from the body, like the arms of a scarecrow.

To frighten or terrify (someone or something), as if using a scarecrow.

(no longer used) To spoil the appearance of (something, such as the landscape or a view), as scarecrows may be regarded as doing.