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crowbar

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Etymology and origin of the English word crowbar

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1748 documents on the colonial history of New Jersey More words from the 18th century
Ultimate origins
Old English craweOld French barre
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English crow
English crowbar
From the same root
English scarecrow ← crow

Pronunciation

  • US: /ˈkɹoʊˌbɑɹ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English crow + bar,[2][3][4][5] first recorded in American English,[5][4] from the older crow for the same tool, which goes back to before 1400.[2][5][6] The OED places that older word under the bird.[2] The tool was probably named for its shape, though sources differ about which part: Dictionary.com, Klein and Etymonline think of a beak-shaped end,[4][7][6] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Etymonline of the forked end, likened to a crow's foot.[8][6] Etymonline also suggests that it may instead come through Old French cros, the plural of croc (“hook”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

An iron bar with a wedge-shaped end, used as a lever: 1748, in a document printed among the colonial records of New Jersey,[2] which Barnhart and Merriam-Webster also date to that year.[5][8] Dictionary.com gives 1740–50.[4]

Semantic evolution

The plain crow had long named this bar: it is in St Erkenwald, from before 1400,[2] and was also used from 1553 to 1870 for a grappling hook.[2] The OED's definition names quarrymen, lumbermen and house-breakers among its users.[2] A verb, to force with a crowbar, is recorded from 1853, in E. K. Kane's account of the Grinnell Expedition.[2] In Ireland the word was bound up with evictions: crowbar landlord is recorded from 1865, and the Crowbar Brigade, for the sheriff, bailiffs and police who broke into tenants' houses, from 1878.[9] The OED's first attributive use, from 1885, is in W. J. Fitzpatrick's life of T. N. Burke.[2] American slang later made it a word for the penis, about 1925, and used crowbar hotel for a prison by 1942.[9]

Timeline

  • before 1400 – crow, a bar of iron used as a lever.[2][5]
  • 1748 – the compound crowbar, a bar used as a lever.[2][5][8][6]
  • 1853 – verb, to force with a crowbar.[2]
  • 1865 – crowbar landlord, in Ireland, a landlord who enforces his powers through heavy-handed police.[9]
  • 1942 – crowbar hotel, a prison, in American slang.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An iron or steel bar, usually bent and with a wedge-shaped working end, sometimes forked, used as a lever or pry: They opened the crate with a crowbar.[8][2]

Verb

  1. To force with a crowbar.[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  4. ^ a b c d Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  5. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
Cite this entry

“Crowbar.” Etymologically, 5 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/en/crowbar. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·