redbreast
nounEtymology From Middle English redbreste, equivalent to red + breast.
› Any of several unrelated birds that have a…
1
A European robin, Erithacus rubecula.
- There was a pleasant frosty sun glittering through the twigs of the leafless shrubs, and flashing on the ripples and undulations of the Liffey, and the redbreasts and sparrows were picking up the crumbs which the housekeeper had thrown for them outside.1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “How a Gentleman Paid a Visit at the Brass Castle, and There Read a Paragraph in an Old Newspaper”, in The House by the Church-yard. […], volume III, London: Tinsley, Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 17:
- I felt comforted by the song of the redbreast, and I thought I felt less lonely and deserted as long as I heard the merry notes of the thrush.1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 281:
2
An American robin, Turdus migratorius.
- Derived terms
- robin redbreast