Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A North American songbird (Turdus migratorius) having a rust-red breast and gray and black upper plumage.
  • noun A small songbird (Erithacus rubecula) of Eurasia and Africa having olive-brown upper plumage and a conspicuous orange breast and face.
  • noun Any of various birds resembling a robin.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A trimming on the front of a dress.
  • noun A toxin obtained from the Robinia Pseudacacia, a locust-tree of North America.
  • noun A small sylviine bird of Europe, Erythacus rubecula, more fully called robin-redbreast, and also redbreast, robinet, and ruddock.
  • noun 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.
  • noun 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.)
  • noun The robin-snipe or red-breasted sandpiper, Tringa canutus: a clipped name among gunners. Also beach-robin. See knot, 1.
  • noun The sea-robin or red-breasted merganser, Mergus serrator.
  • noun In ichthyology, a sea-robin or flying-robin; one of several kinds of Triglidæ.
  • noun A local name of the pinfish.
  • noun A name variously applied (commonly as part of a compound) to the herb-robert, to species of Lychnis, and to some other plants.
  • noun Same as robbin.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A small European singing bird (Erythacus rubecula), having a reddish breast; -- called also robin redbreast, robinet, and ruddock.
  • noun An American singing bird (Merula migratoria), having the breast chestnut, or dull red. The upper parts are olive-gray, the head and tail blackish. Called also robin redbreast, and migratory thrush.
  • noun Any one of several species of Australian warblers of the genera Petroica, Melanadrays, and allied genera.
  • noun Any one of several Asiatic birds. See Indian robin, below.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the robin snipe, or knot. See Knot.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See Bluethroat.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the cedar bird.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the Baltimore oriole.
  • noun (Zoöl.) the chewink.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any one of several species of Asiatic saxoline birds of the genera Thamnobia and Pratincola. They are mostly black, usually with some white on the wings.
  • noun (Zoöl.) an Asiatic singing bird (Corsycus saularis), having the back, head, neck, and breast black glossed with blue, the wings black, and the belly white.
  • noun (Bot.) See under Ragged.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a small Asiatic singing bird (Accentor rubeculoides), somewhat resembling the European robin.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The American bluebird.
  • noun (Zoöl.) The red-breasted sandpiper, or knot.
  • noun (Bot.) See under Plantain.
  • noun (Zoöl.), [Local, U.S.] The red-breasted merganser, or sheldrake.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a redstart (Ruticulla fuliginosa), native of India.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A European robin; Erithacus rubecula.
  • noun An American robin; Turdus migratorius.
  • noun Various passerine birds (about 100 species) of the families Muscicapidae, Turdidae and Petroicidae (formerly Eopsaltridae), typically with a red breast.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun large American thrush having a rust-red breast and abdomen
  • noun small Old World songbird with a reddish breast

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

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

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  • Batman's original sidekick, a.k.a. Dick Grayson.

    December 14, 2007

  • Robin Hood, Robin Hood,

    Riding through the glen,

    Robin Hood, Robin Hood,

    With his band of men,

    Feared by the bad, loved by the good,

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  • The Australian robin is not closely-related to the European one, and has much brighter colours.

    January 20, 2009

  • The first robins from "up north" have begun arriving in my Florida neighborhood this week.

    December 3, 2010

  • In the 1960s, in a vote publicised by The Times newspaper, the Robin was adopted as the unofficial national bird of the UK.

    October 29, 2012

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