Scarecrow

Part of speech: noun (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. The black tern. [Prov. Eng.]