Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A bird, such as the robin, that has a red breast.
- noun A freshwater sunfish (Lepomis auritus) of the eastern United States, having a reddish belly.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Red-breasted.
- noun A small sylviine bird of Europe, Erithacus rubecula; the robin, or robin redbreast. See
robin . - noun The American robin or migratory thrush, Merula migratoria or Turdus migratorius. See
robin . - noun The red-breasted sandpiper, or knot, Tringa canutus. See
robin-snipe . - noun The red-bellied sunfish, Lepomis auritus.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The European robin.
- noun The American robin. See
robin . - noun The knot, or red-breasted snipe; -- called also
robin breast , androbin snipe . Seeknot . - noun (Zoöl.) The long-eared pondfish. See
Pondfish .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several unrelated birds that have a red breast; but especially the European
robin , Erithacus rubecula.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun small Old World songbird with a reddish breast
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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Hall – and a fat robin redbreast who was staring at me.
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Why am I called redbreast when I do not possess one single red feather? "
Robin Redbreast 1903
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When the English, Welsh and Scots settled the Appalachian mountains, they found a familiar plant growing, and used their own familiar name for it, much as they named the red-breasted thrush of North America after their very own robin redbreast.
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"Why should I be called redbreast when I am so entirely grey?" asked the bird once again, and waited for our Lord to say -- Ah! my friend, I see that I have forgotten to paint your breast feathers red, but wait a moment and all shall be done.
Robin Redbreast 1903
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The melancholy note of the redbreast was the only living sound, as the bird came hopping towards him with its usual air of familiarity and respect.
Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2) John Roby 1821
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One day little Luke heard Old John the Indian speak of redbreast as
The Magic Speech Flower or Little Luke and His Animal Friends Melvin Hix
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"Why should I be called redbreast, when I am all grey, from the bill to the very end of my tail?
Robin Redbreast 1903
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But when confronted with the redear, redbreast, or longear sunfish, things got a good deal more complicated.
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Don't put a redbreast or a spotted sunfish in there, as they are highly territorial, and will kill things just through pure abuse.
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Don't put a redbreast or a spotted sunfish in there, as they are highly territorial, and will kill things just through pure abuse.
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