Meanings
nouncrowbar (plural crowbars)
plural crowbars
- An electrical circuit that prevents an overvoltage from causing damage.
verbcrowbar (third-person singular simple present crowbars, present participle crowbarring, simple past and past participle crowbarred)
present singular third person crowbars · participle present crowbarring · participle past crowbarred · past crowbarred
- transitiveTo force to move, usually with a crowbar; to prise.
He crowbarred the door open.
Synonyms: crow, pry, prise / prize
Synonyms & antonyms
nounAn iron or steel bar, often with a flattened end which may also be hook-shaped, to be used as a lever to manually force things apart.
More synonyms by meaning
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*gerh₂-der.?
- Proto-Germanic*krēanądeverb.
- Proto-Germanic*krēǭ
- Proto-West Germanic*krāā
- Old Englishcrāwe
- Middle Englishcrowe
- Englishcrow
- Vulgar Latin*barra
- Old Frenchbarre
- Middle Englishbarre
- Englishbar
- Englishcrowbar
From crow (“crow (bird)" also "metal lever, crowbar”) + bar, probably because the forked end looks like a crow's foot.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans koevoet
- koevoetiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Ancient Greek μοχλός
- μοχλός (mokhlós)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Arabic عَتَلَة
- عَتَلَة (ʕatala)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Catalan alçaprem, palanqueta
- alçapremiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- palanquetairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Chinese Mandarin 撬棍, 鐵撬 /铁撬
- 撬棍 (qiàogùn)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- 鐵撬 /铁撬 (tiěqiào)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- 撬杠 (qiàogàng)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- 鐵挺 /铁挺 (tiětǐng)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Czech páčidlo, pajsr
- páčidloiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- pajsriron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- pajcriron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- sochoriron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Danish koben, brækjern
- kobeniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- brækjerniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Dutch koevoet, breekijzer
- koevoetiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- breekijzeriron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Esperanto levstango
- levstangoiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Estonian sõrgkang
- sõrgkangiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Finnish sorkkarauta, kangeta
- sorkkarautairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- kangetato force to move, usually with a crowbar
French pied-de-biche, pince-monseigneur
- pied-de-bicheiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- pince-monseigneuriron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
German Brechstange, Brecheisen
- Brechstangeiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- Brecheiseniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- Hebeeiseniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- Nageleiseniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- Kuhfußiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- Geißfußiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Greek λοστός
- λοστός (lostós)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Hebrew לום
- לום (lom)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Hindi सब्बल, खनती
- सब्बल (sabbal)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- खनती (khantī)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- रंभा (rambhā)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- अधिपारक (adhipārak)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Hungarian emelőrúd, emeltyű
- emelőrúdiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- emeltyűiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- feszítővasiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- pajszeriron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- feszítto force to move, usually with a crowbar
- kifeszítto force to move, usually with a crowbar
- szétfeszítto force to move, usually with a crowbar
- megfeszítto force to move, usually with a crowbar
- feszítővasazikto force to move, usually with a crowbar
Icelandic kúbein
- kúbeiniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Indonesian linggis
- linggisiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Irish gró
- gróiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Italian piede di porco, palanchino
- piede di porcoiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- palanchinoiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- levachiodiiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- cavachiodiiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Japanese 鉄梃, バール
- 鉄梃 (kanateko)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- バール (bāru)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- バー (bā)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Korean 노루발못뽑이, 빠루
- 노루발못뽑이 (norubalmotppobi)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- 빠루 (pparu)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- 크로우바 (keurouba)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- 쇠지레 (soejire)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Latin vectis
- vectisiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Latvian lauznis
- lauznisiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Lithuanian laužtuvas, dalba
- laužtuvasiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- dalbairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Māori koropā, whakatiriwhana
- koropāiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- whakatiriwhanairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- whakatiriwhanato force to move, usually with a crowbar
Norwegian brekkjern, kubein
- brekkjerniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- kubeiniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Persian دِیلُم, دیلم، اهرم
- دِیلُم (dilom)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- دیلم، اهرمto force to move, usually with a crowbar
Polish łom, otwierać łomem
- łomiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- otwierać łomemto force to move, usually with a crowbar
- otworzyć łomemto force to move, usually with a crowbar
Portuguese pé de cabra
- pé de cabrairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Romanian rangă
- rangăiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Russian лом, ло́мик
- лом (lom)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- ло́мик (lómik)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- гвоздодёр (gvozdodjór)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- фо́мка (fómka)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- ло́мтик (lómtik)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Slovak páčidlo, pajsr
- páčidloiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- pajsriron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Spanish pie de cabra, pata de cabra
- pie de cabrairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- pata de cabrairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- palanquetairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- barretairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- palancairon or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- diabloiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- diablitoiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- apalancarto force to move, usually with a crowbar
- palanquearto force to move, usually with a crowbar
Swahili mtaimbo
- mtaimboiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Swedish kofot, bräckjärn
- kofotiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- bräckjärniron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Tagalog landok, landol
- landokiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- landoliron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- ligkaliron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Tamil நெம்புகோல், கடப்பாரை
- நெம்புகோல் (nempukōl)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- கடப்பாரை (kaṭappārai)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Thai ชะแลง
- ชะแลง (chá-lɛɛng)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Turkish levye
- levyeiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Ukrainian цвяходе́р, лом
- цвяходе́р (cvjaxodér)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
- лом (lom)iron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Vietnamese xà beng
- xà bengiron or steel bar used as a lever to manually force things apart
Cite this entry
APA
crowbar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crowbar
MLA
“crowbar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crowbar. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “crowbar,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/crowbar.
Source: crowbar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.