robin definitions and example sentences on Wordnik

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Definitions (31)

American Heritage Dictionary (3)

noun A North American songbird (Turdus migratorius) having a rust-red breast and gray and black upper plumage. Also called robin redbreast.
noun A small Old World bird (Erithacus rubecula) having an orange breast and a brown back. Also called robin redbreast.
noun Any of various birds resembling a robin.

Century Dictionary (25)

A small sylviine bird of Europe, Erythacus rubecula, more fully called robin-redbreast, and also redbreast, robinet, and ruddock. It is more like a warbler than like a thrush, only about 5 1/2 inches long and 9 in extent of wings; the upper parts are olive-green; the forehead, sides of the head, front of the neck, and fore part of the breast are yellowish-red (whence the name redbreast). It is an abundant and familiar British bird, widely distributed in other parts of the Palearctic region. The song is rich, mellow, and finely modulated. The nest is placed on the ground, in herbage or moss, generally under a hedge or bush. The eggs are usually five or six in number, pinkish-white freckled with purplish-red. This robin is a common figure in English nursery tales and folk-lore. Art thou the bird whom Man loves best, The pious bird with the scarlet breast, Our little English Robin? Wordsworth, Redbreast Chasing the Butterfly. A strange world where the robin was a little domestic bird that fed at the table, instead of a great fidgety, jerky, whooping thrush. O. W. Holmes, Old Vol. of Life, p. 172.
The red-breasted or migratory thrush of North America, Turdus migratorius or Merula migratoria, one of the most abundant and familiar of North American birds: so called from the reddish-brown color of the under parts, which, however, is very different, both in hue and in extent, from that of the European redbreast. This robin is 10 inches long and 16 in extent of wings. The upper parts are slate-color with an olive shade; most of the under parts are chestnut-red; the vent-feathers are white, with dusky markings; the head is black, with white marks about the eyes and white streaks on the throat; and the tail is blackish, usually marked with white at the ends of the outer feathers. The bill is mostly yellow. The robin inhabits the whole of North America; it is migratory, feeds on insects, worms, berries, and other fruits, and breeds at large throughout its range, building a large strong nest of hay and mud on a bough, and laying from four to six uniform greenish-blue eggs, 1⅕ inches long by 4/5 inch broad. Also, familiarly, robin-redbreast.
With a qualifying term, one of numerous warbler-like or thrush-like birds, more or less nearly related to or resembling either of the foregoing: as, the blue-throated robin. (See Cyanecula, and cut under bluethroat.) Some of these terms are book-names, others are casual transfers of the word robin by English residents in various parts of the world, especially India and Australia. In the latter region are various flycatchers (Muscicapidæ) of the genus Petrœca and its subdivisions, some of which are called robins, as the scarlet-breasted. P. multicolor, peculiar to Norfolk Island. Some of the Asiatic chats of the genus Pratincola are known as Indian robins; these are related to the British whinchat and stonechat, and do not particularly resemble the true robin of England. Others, recently separated generically under the name Erythromyias, inhabit Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and other islands of the same zoögeographical region, and resemble the true robin, as E. dumetoria and E. muelleri. The red-breasted flycatcher, Muscicapa (Erythrosterna) parva, which ranges from central Europe into India, bears a striking resemblance to the true robin. Among other Indian robins, loosely so called, may be noted one sometimes specified as the water-robin. This is a flycatcher, Xanthopygia fuliginosa, originally described by Vigors in 1831 as Phœnicura fuliginosa, and commonly catalogued as Ruticilla fuliginosa (after G. R. Gray); but it does not belong to the same family as the robin, nor to the same genus as the redstart. It inhabits the Himalayan region, and ranges widely in China and India. It has been placed in 5 different genera, two of which, Rhyacornis of Blanford and Nymphæus of A. O. Hume, were specially framed for its reception.

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St. Serf has a pet robin, which is wont to sit and sing upon his shoulder. — The Hermits
In its habits and manners the blackbird strikingly resembles our American robin, and indeed looks exactly like a robin, with a yellow bill and coal-black plumage. — An Autobiography
He could sing like a robin, and play on the flute, — A Backward Glance at Eighty
'Besides,' say they, 'the robin is the Irish nightingale.' — Oliver Goldsmith A Biography
In England the robin is the children's favourite bird, and rhymes and stories in his honour abound, -- most famous is the nursery song, "Who killed Cock Robin?" — The Child and Childhood in Folk-Thought Studies of the Activities and Influences of the Child Among Primitive Peoples, Their Analogues and Survivals in the Civilization of To-Day

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Etymologies (4)

American Heritage Dictionary (1)

Short for Robin Redbreast, from Middle English Robin, personal name, from Old French, diminutive of Robert.

Century Dictionary (3)

Short for robin-redbreast, early modern English robyn redbrest, from Middle English *robin redbreast, robinet redbrest, in which the first element was orig. a quasi-proper name, Robin, from Old French Robin, Robin (a name also given to the sheep), a familiar diminutive of Robert, Robert (a name early known in England, as that of the oldest son of William I.), = Spanish Portuguese Italian Roberto, also Ruperto (later English Rupert), from Old High German Ruodpert, Middle High German G. Ruprecht, literally ‘fame-bright,’ illustrious in fame, from Old High German ruod (= Anglo-Saxon *hrōth- (in proper name Hrōthgar = German Rudiger, later ult. English Roger: see Roger) = Icelandic hrōthr, praise, fame, = Gothic (Moesogothic) *hrōth, in hrōtheigs, victorious, triumphant) + perht, peraht, Middle High German berht = English bright: see bright.
apparently ult. due to the F. name Robin: see robin.
Rob(inia) + -in.

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