crow-bar
(ˈkrəʊbɑː(r))
[crow n.1 5 + bar.]
a. An iron bar with a wedge-shaped end (usually slightly bent and sometimes forked), used as a lever or prise by quarrymen, lumbermen, house-breakers, etc. In earlier use called simply crow.
| 1748 in Documents rel. Colonial Hist. New Jersey (1883) 1st Ser. VII. 208 Men, armed with clubs, axes & crow bars, came, in a riotous & tumultuous manner. 1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 398 [To fetch] a crow-bar. 1862 Lond. Rev. 23 Aug. 172 Burglars, using the crowbar, the gimlet, and saw, to burst open doors and shutters. |
| fig. 1867 Cornh. Mag. Apr. 449 Even in progressive England the crowbar of reform spares the village inn. |
b. attrib.| 1885 W. J. Fitzpatrick Life T.N. Burke III. 30 note, Exterminating landlords, who pulled down the cabins of poor tenants, were called ‘the Crowbar Brigade’. 1886 Pall Mall G. 26 Apr. 11/2 Evictions..at Knockrush..with sheriff, crowbar brigade, and all. |
Hence
ˈcrow-bar v., to force with a crow-bar.
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxix. (1856) 253 We had to send out parties to crow-bar away the ice from our bowsprit. |