Norwood Reaper
- proper noun
- Literature
- The Norwood Reaper is featured in many ghost stories told by locals.
Examples
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The legend of the Norwood Reaper has frightened children for generations.
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Children dare each other to visit the woods at night, fearing the Norwood Reaper.
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Each Halloween, rumors spread that the Norwood Reaper will make an appearance.
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Have you heard the story of the Norwood Reaper?
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Many locals warn that the Norwood Reaper appears at dusk, lurking in the shadows of the forest.
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During the campfire stories, the Norwood Reaper was described as a mysterious figure haunting the nearby woods.
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The tale of the Norwood Reaper always sends shivers down the spines of those who hear it.
Synonyms
53
9.9
A figure who takes the souls of dead people, shown as an old man or skeleton with a scythe
24
7.6
A figure who represents death, shown as a skeleton with a scythe
Surface Forms
Morphology
Norwood + Reaper
The compound is a place-name + noun where the noun 'Reaper' clearly evokes the death/folklore figure; a B1 learner who knows 'reaper' and recognises 'Norwood' as a proper name will readily infer this refers to a local Reaper character or legend. The meaning is compositionally transparent (a Reaper associated with Norwood) and follows familiar naming patterns across languages, so no special idiomatic knowledge is required.
Etymology
The figure Norwood Reaper may come from a story about a tall, dark person seen in the nearby woods carrying a long blade like a farm reaper with a scythe. That strong, scary image made people tell ghost tales about him, so the name came to mean a 'scary local legend'.