wren meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

wren

nounalso spelled Wren

/ɹɛn/

Etymology From Middle English wrenne, wranne, from Old English wrenna, wrænna, werna, wærna, wrenne (“wren”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrandijō, from Proto-Germanic *wrandijô (“wren”). Cognate with Old Saxon wrendilo (“wren”), Old High German rento, rentilo (“wren”), Danish rindel (“wren”), Icelandic rindill (“wren”).

Troglodytes troglodytes (Eurasian wren, type species and sole Old World species of the family Troglodytidae).

Any member of a mainly New World passerine bird family Troglodytidae; a true wren.

Any small bird of similar appearance to a true wren, such as a fairywren or scrubwren.

Derived terms: 41 terms
Bewick's wren, black-bellied wren, blue wren, cactus wren, canyon wren, Carolina wren, Daito wren, emu-wren, fairy wren, fairy-wren, fairywren, fasciated wren, golden-crested wren, heath-wren, house wren, jenny wren, Lambert's wren, Lyall's wren, marsh wren, New Zealand wren, nightingale-wren, reed wren, rock wren, scrubwren, sedge wren, short-billed marsh wren, sooty-headed wren, Stephens Island wren, streaked wren-babbler, striped wren-babbler, tule wren, willow wren, winter wren, wren-babbler, wrenboy, Wren Day, wren-spinetail, wrenthrush, wren-tit, wren-warbler, Zapata wren

Wren

noun

Etymology From WRNS, short for Women's Royal Naval Service. Influenced by the ornithonym wren.

UK, Informal A female member of the Royal Navy (originally, a member of the WRNS).

The characterisation of male officers as ineffectual chauvinists, and the offering of the Wrens as objects for Charlie's and the viewer's gaze, are mutually contradictory as well as uncomplimentary to all branches of the Navy.2007, Jonathan R. Rayner, The naval war film: genre, history, national cinema:
There was plenty of work for Wrens in the training bases of the navy.2008, Brian Lavery, CHURCHILL'S NAVY: THE SHIPS, MEN AND ORGANISATION, 1939-1945:

1 more example

By the end of 1942 Wren officers were permitted to enrol on the meteorological course at RNC Greenwich, after which they were employed as fully qualified forecasters.2008, Mark Barber, The British Fleet Air Arm in World War II: