Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Scarecrow \Scare"crow`\, n.
   1. Anything set up to frighten crows or other birds from
      cornfields; hence, anything terifying without danger.

            A scarecrow set to frighten fools away. --Dryden.

   2. A person clad in rags and tatters.

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

   3. (Zo["o]l.) The black tern. [Prov. Eng.]

Source : WordNet®

scarecrow
     n : an effigy in the shape of a man to frighten birds away from
         seeds [syn: {straw man}, {strawman}, {bird-scarer}, {scarer}]