any of several small Old World birds having a red or reddish breast, especially Erithacus rubecula, of Europe.
a large American thrush, Turdus migratorius, having a chestnut-red breast and abdomen.
any of several similar thrushes of the New World tropics, not necessarily having reddish underparts, as T. grayi clay-colored robin, of Mexico and Central America.
Also called: robin redbreast. a small Old World songbird, Erithacus rubecula , related to the thrushes: family Muscicapidae . The male has a brown back, orange-red breast and face, and grey underparts
a North American thrush, Turdus migratorius , similar to but larger than the Old World robin
any of various similar birds having a reddish breast
First recorded in 1540–50; short for robin redbreast
The sweet-sounding, red-chested birds that symbolize the beginning of spring are robins. There are actually many different birds called robins, and while most share a reddish-orange breast, they're actually distantly related to each other. In the U.S., the bird we think of as a robin is officially the American robin, a kind of thrush. It's the most common land bird in North America, and it's famous for laying eggs very early in the spring — and singing at the crack of dawn. The robin's most deadly predator is the domesticated cat.
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However, the naming of the robin as the UK's favourite bird did have its critics.
From BBC • Mar. 10, 2026
Sweden believed one of the Canadians was repeatedly double-touching, giving the stone another little prod with his finger to correct its course during Friday's round robin match.
From Barron's • Feb. 14, 2026
Mixed doubles curling continues with another double-header for Britain's Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds in their final matches of the round robin stage.
From BBC • Feb. 2, 2026
Microphones recorded 21 distress calls from the robin, followed by 23 minutes of chewing as the bat flew low, feeding on the wing.
From Science Daily • Nov. 2, 2025
“There are no owls on that property and don’t you forget it, Mr. Branitt. Zero owls. Nada. Somebody sees one, you tell him it’s a—I don’t know, a robin or a wild chicken or something.”
From "Hoot" by Carl Hiaasen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
