Plural of crowbar; metal rods with a curved end used as a lever to move or pry apart heavy objects.
From 'crow' (the forked foot of a crow, resembling the tool's split end) + 'bar' (a rod or lever). The term solidified in English by the 17th century, describing the tool's resemblance to a crow's foot.
The curved end of a crowbar really does look like a crow's foot—our ancestors were brilliant at naming tools based on everyday observations of animals and nature.
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