Robin Meaning
/ˈɹɒ.bɪn/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny of various passerine birds (about 100 species) of the families Muscicapidae, Turdidae and Petroicidae (formerly Eopsaltriidae), typically with a red breast.
nounAny of various passerine birds (about 100 species) of the families Muscicapidae, Turdidae and Petroicidae (formerly Eopsaltriidae), typically with a red breast., A European robin, Erithacus rubecula.
Sentence Examples
We are familiar with the legend of Robin Hood.
Robin looks very cute when he's sleeping.
The film is based on the legend of Robin Hood.
CEFR Practice Quiz
During spring, I saw a small red-breasted ____ hopping on the lawn.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A small ____ perched on the garden fence and watched as she turned over the soil with her spade.
Word Origin & History
Short for robin redbreast. Also from Middle English robynet, robynett (“robin (bird)”), from the Middle English name Robynett, a diminutive of the Middle English name Robyn (“Robin”). ] ]
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"As they turned into Hertford Street they startled a robin from the poet's head on a barren fountain, and he fled away with a cameo note."
— 1922, Michael Arlen, “Ep./4/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
"They ſay hee is already in the Forreſt of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there liue like the old Robin Hood of England"
— c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 186, column 1:
"This waly boy will be nae coof: /I think we'll call him Robin./ Robin was a rovin' boy, / Rantin', rovin', rantin', rovin', /Robin was a rovin' boy, / Rantin', rovin' Robin."
— 1785, Robert Burns, Rantin', Rovin' Robin:
"Some names simply aren't appropriate after a while. Say you were called Robin, for instance. Well that's a perfectly good monicker up to the age of about nine, but pretty soon you'd have to do something about it, wouldn't you? Change your name by deed-poll to Samson, or Goliath, or something."
— 1991, Julian Barnes, Talking It Over, Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 12:
""We'll name her Robin," her mother said, and it was as though at her words something of that spring and the bird's song and his gay and friendly and impudent spirit entered into the child."
— 1949, Adela Rogers St. John, Never Again, and Other Stories, Doubleday, page 25:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
During spring, I saw a small red-breasted ____ hopping on the lawn.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
A small ____ perched on the garden fence and watched as she turned over the soil with her spade.