Robin1
(ˈrɒbɪn)
Except in sense 1, usu. with lower-case initial. Forms: 4–5 Robyn, 6 Roben, Sc. Robene, Robeen, 7 Sc. Robein, 7, 9 Robbin, 5– Robin.
[a. OF. Robin, a dim. or familiar form of the personal name Robert.]
For several specific uses see round robin.
I. 1. The personal name, in more or less allusive or general application.
poor Robin: see poor a. 8. For dial. uses such as Robin-round-cap, -run-rake, etc., see the Eng. Dial. Dict.
| c 1374 Chaucer Troylus v. 1174 From hasell wode there Ioly Robin pleyde. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. vi. 75 Saue Iakke þe iogeloure..And Robyn þe Rybaudoure. c 1400 Rom. Rose 6337 Now am I Robert, now Robyn; Now frere Menour, now Iacobyn. Ibid. 7455 He, that whylom was so gay, And of the daunce Ioly Robin, Was tho become a Iacobin. 1555 Latimer in Foxe A. & M. (1570) III. 1919/2 Now that would I see, quoth long Roben, ut dicitur vulgariter. 1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary ii. (1625) 23 Some Robin the divell, or I wot not what spirit of the Ayre. 1603 Philotus cxxxvi, Now grace and honour on that face, Quod Robein to the Haggies. |
II. 2. = Robin redbreast 1 a. (Cf. Fris. robyn(tsje, robynderke, Du. dial. robijntje, the linnet.)
| 1549 Compl. Scotl. vi. 39 Robeen and the litil vran var hamely in vyntir. 1665 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (1677) 383 Here are also Ayeries of Hawks and sundry others Birds; as Goshawks,..Robbins, Herons white and beautiful. 1802 Wordsw. Redbreast chasing Butterfly 3 The pious bird with the scarlet breast, Our little English Robin. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 677 On the nigh-naked tree the robin piped Disconsolate. |
b. Any bird of the genus Erithacus.
| 1855 Orr's Circle Sci., Org. Nat. III. 303 In the sub⁓family of the Erythacinæ or Robins, the bill is rather short, slender, tapering,..and depressed at the base. |
3. N. Amer. The red-breasted thrush, Turdus migratorius.
| 1703 S. Sewall Diary 16 Mar. (1879) II. 75 The Robbins cheerfully utter their Notes this morn. 1798 Monthly Mag. May 331/2 The American robin, larger than ours. 1808 Wilson Amer. Ornith. I. 37 The Robin is one of our earliest songsters. 1858 Longfellow M. Standish iii. 3 Into the tranquil woods, where blue-birds and robins were building. 1888 G. H. Kingsley Sport & Trav. vi. (1900) 182 In America I shoot robins and find them thrushes. 1944 S. Bellow Dangling Man 172 A few large birds, robins and grackles, appeared in the trees. 1966 Vancouver Province 19 Nov. 1/5 The robin had been sitting in a mountain ash tree in his front yard. |
4. The name given to various birds (esp. in former colonies), as in New Zealand to those of the genus Miro, in Australia to species of Petroica and other genera, in Jamaica to the green tody, etc.
Recent American dicts. assign the name to the red-breasted snipe and merganser, and to the mouse-bird or coly.
| a 1880 R. Davies Poems & Lit. Rem. (1884) 264 In the bush [of New Zealand]..the robin always comes about. 1880 L. A. Meredith Tasmanian Friends & Foes 123 The Robin (Petroica multicolor) is..certainly more brilliantly beautiful than his English namesake. 1894 Newton Dict. Birds 791 Robin, a well-known nickname of the Red-breast,..has been transplanted..to Jamaica in the case of the Green Tody. |
b. With distinctive epithets (adj. or n.) applied to many birds, esp. of the (former) colonies or India, as blue robin, the bluebird, Sialia sialis; golden robin, the Baltimore oriole; Indian robin (see quot. 1855); magpie robin (see magpie 8); yellow robin (see quot. 1855); etc.
For an enumeration of the various Australian birds thus named see Morris Austral English 390–1.
| 1827 Trans. Linn. Soc. XV. 242 ‘This bird,’ Mr. Cayley says, ‘is called yellow-robin by the colonists. It is an inhabitant of bushes’. 1844 J. E. DeKay Zool. N.Y. ii. 65 The Bluebird, or Blue Robin as it is called in the western counties. 1855 Orr's Circle Sci., Org. Nat. III. 265 One of the commonest species, the Baltimore Oriole,..has received the name of fire-bird... It is also called the Golden Robin. Ibid. 283 The Eopsaltaria australis, which is also an Australian species, is known to the colonists of New South Wales as the Yellow Robin. Ibid. 307 The Thamnobia fulicata, or Indian Robin, even exceeds his European representative in boldness and familiarity. 1884 Harper's Mag. Mar. 610/1 Our New England forefathers call him the ‘blue robin’. |
c. Used attributively or appositively in names of various birds.
robin accentor, a small red-breasted bird of the thrush family (Tharraleus rubeculoides), inhabiting the Himalayas; robin breast, = robin snipe; robin breastie, Sc., = Robin redbreast; robin-chat, one of several African thrush-like birds belonging to the genus Cossypha of the family Turdidæ; robin dipper, U.S., the buffle-headed duck; robin († rock), -rook, -ruck, dial., = sense 2; robin sandpiper, the knot; robin snipe, (a) = prec.; (b) the red-breasted snipe. See also Robin ruddock.
| 1555 Gesner Hist. Anim. III. 699 A robin..alibi a robbyn rock. 1736 Pegge Kenticisms (E.D.S.), Robin-rook, a robin-redbreast. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl. 412 The tane o' them was the Robbin Breestie. 1872 Coues N. Amer. Birds 256 Robin-snipe... Bill equalling or rather exceeding the head. Ibid. 632 Tringa,..Robin Sandpiper. Bill about as long as, or rather longer than, the head. 1890 Oates Fauna Brit. India Birds II. 169 Tharrhaleus rubeculoides, the Robin Accentor. 1901 A. C. Stark Birds S. Afr. II. 209 (heading) Noisy Robin-Chat. 1931 Discovery May 138/2 The robin chat..is smart in appearance, with..blue shoulder patches and bright orange-rufous underparts. 1960 Times 29 Sept. (Nigeria Suppl.) p. xxi/7 The colourful white-headed robin chat, that richest and most versatile of Nigerian songsters. |
5. attrib. and Comb., as robin-anthem, robin-song; robin-red adj.; robin dinner, a Christmas dinner given to London waifs by subscription; robin's egg, U.S., (of) a greenish-blue colour; usu., robin's egg blue; robin-snow, U.S., a light snow coming before the departure or after the return of the American robin.
| 1853 Thoreau Jrnl. 11–12 Jan. in Writings (1906) x. 462 He says that the most snow we have had this winter (it has not been more than one inch deep) has been only a ‘robin snow’ as it is called, i.e. a snow which does not drive off the robins. a 1862 Thoreau Early Spring in Mass. (1881) 49 The slight robin snow of yesterday is already mostly dissipated. 1873 E. S. Phelps Trotty's Wedding Tour 166 She saw her robin's egg sash and gloves. 1880 Lanier Owl agst. Robin Poems (1892), Nothing but robin-songs heard under heaven. 1881 Robin's-egg blue [see peacock n. 5]. 1887 M. E. Wilkins Humble Romance 15 A dress⁓pattern of robin's-egg blue silk. 1892 Daily News 21 Jan. 3/1 A ‘Robin’ dinner took place last night at the headquarters of the Camberwell Mission. 1896 ― 17 Oct. 6/5 A robin-red velvet waistcoat. 1910 Busy Man's Mag. Dec. 65/1 On either side were swift hills mottled with green and gold, ahead a curdle of snow-capped mountains, above a sky of robin's-egg blue. 1933 N. Waln House of Exile i. iii. 43 Two lovely robin's-egg-blue bowls and two pairs of ivory chopsticks. 1951 E. Paul Springtime in Paris v. 91 Cloud battalions retreating, and stragglers streaked with red—geranium, salmon, vermilion, magenta. Between them, their complements of robin's egg, turquoise, and faint bottle green. 1951 Auden Nones (1952) 15 A robin with no Christian name ran through The Robin-Anthem which was all it knew. 1970 R. Lowell Notebk. 27 The boys..Crawling the swimming pool's robin's-egg sky. 1978 M. Puzo Fools Die xi. 118, I gave up all thoughts of buying a Cadillac and settled for the robin's⁓egg blue Dodge. |
III. 6. A name given locally or dialectally to various plants, as red campion, ragged robin, herb Robert, etc. (See Britten & Holland.)
red robin: see red a. 19 and red rag 2.
| 1694 Westmacott Script. Herb. 23 Altering the taste with a handful of..Ground Ivy, or Robin leaves. 1906 Academy 5 May 425/2 Dewdropt daffodillies, With robin, medled in the thicket grass. 1913 D. H. Lawrence in New Statesman 16 Aug. 595/2 We called the purple primroses ‘robins’, for no reason, unless that they bloomed in winter. |
b. The first element in several popular names of plants, esp. Robin in the hedge (see quot. 1828); Robin-run-(in-)the-hedge, ground-ivy; goose-grass or cleavers; bindweed; Lady's bedstraw, etc.
See also Britten & Holland, and the Eng. Dial. Dict.
| 1796 Withering Brit. Pl. (ed. 3) III. 526 Ground Ivy... Robin run in the hedge. Groves, hedges, and shady places. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Robbin-rin-the-Hedge, a trailing kind of weed, which runs along hedges, a robbin net. 1828 Craven Gloss., Robin-ith-hedge, red flowered Campion. Lychnis dioica. 1834 Tait's Mag. I. 446/2 The wild-pink on the craggy ledge,..And e'en the Robin-run-i'-the-hedge, Are precious in mine eyes. 1846 Keightley Notes Virg. Flora 385 Cleavers, Clivers, Goose⁓grass. In some places (particularly in Ireland) it is called Robin-run-the-hedge. 1847 Halliwell s.v. Robin, Robin in the hose, lychnis silvestris. 1883 Burne Shropsh. Folk-Lore xxiii, The old Ludlow custom of dining on a leg of pork stuffed with Robin-run-i'-the-hedge. |
c. Used attributively in plant-names, as robin-flower, ragged robin; herb Robert (Britten & Holland); robin-net (see b, quot. 1824); robin-wheat, U.S., = robin's rye.
robin-wake, = wake-robin, in Crabb's Technol. Dict. (1823), is prob. a mistake.
| 1886 Pop. Sci. Monthly XXIX. 368 The birds are not the only harvesters of the pretty moss known as robin-wheat. |
d. In genitive combs. forming plant-names, as robin's cushion, = robin's pincushion; robin's eye(s, flower, herb Robert; rose campion, etc. (Eng. Dial. Dict.); robin's pincushion (see quot. 1850); robin's plantain, U.S., a species of fleabane (Erigeron belledifolium); robin's rye (see quot. 1897).
| 1846–50 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. 326 Robin's Plantain. 1850 Episodes Ins. Life 67 The rose bedeguar wears the appearance of a mossy tuft... In some parts of England it is said to be known by the name of Robin's Pincushion. 1862 H. Marryat Year in Sweden II. 286 A stunted wild-rose, now covered with those feathery red excrescences..called in England ‘robin's-cushions’. 1897 Syd. Soc. Lex., Robin's rye, a common name for the hair-cap moss, Polytrichum juniperinum. |
IV. 7. The name of various fishes: a. dial. A small or an inferior codfish.
| 1618 Naworth Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 81, 2 robbins, 12 codds,..3 robbins. 1807 C. Waugh Fisherman's Def. 4 (Cumb. Gloss.), The small cod called Robins. 1892 H. A. Macpherson Fauna Lakeland 484 The ‘Robbin’ or ‘Robin’ is a deformed-looking fish, often taken at the end of the winter fishing. |
b. U.S. (See quots.)
| 1853 J. Richardson Let. 24 May in N. E. Eliason Tarheel Talk (1956) 290 We caught 19 brim & robbins. 1876 Goode Fishes Bermudas 10 The Pilchard.., Shad.., and the Robin (Decapterus punctatus), are used as ‘full⁓baits’. 1888 ― Amer. Fishes 99 The ‘Sailor's Choice’..bears several other names,..as the ‘Robin’ and ‘Pin-fish’. 1894 Outing XXIV. 263/2 ‘Here's a sea-robin!’.. The robin grunted vigorously as I relieved him of the hook. |
c. attrib., as robin huss (see quot. 1879).
| 1879 N. & Q. 5th Ser. XII. 193/2 The Sussex coast, where the small-spotted dog-fish (Scyllium canicula) is termed a robin huss. 1883 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. & Irel. II. 310. |