Robin Hood

Robin Hood

English

Etymology

Middle English, from Old French, diminutive of Robert

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɹɒbɪn ˈhʊd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑbɪn hʊd/

Proper noun

Statue of Robin Hood in Nottingham.

Robin Hood

1. A legendary English outlaw famous for his skill in archery and his vow to defend the poor and the oppressed against established authority.
2. A village in the Metropolitan Borough of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England (OS grid ref SE3227).
3. A locality near Drouin, Victoria, Australia.

Derived terms

• Robin Hood tax
• Robin Hood's Bay

Translations

legendary outlaw

Arabic: رُوبِن هُود‎ m (rubin hūd) Armenian: Ռոբին Հուդ (Ṙobin Hud) Chinese: Mandarin: 羅賓漢／罗宾汉 (zh) (Luóbīn Hàn) Esperanto: Kapuĉa Robĉjo Finnish: Robin Hood French: Robin des Bois (fr) m Georgian: რობინ ჰუდი (robin hudi) German: Robin Hood m Greek: Ρομπέν των Δασών (el) (Rompén ton Dasón) Hebrew: רובין הוד‎ m Hindi: रॉबिन हूड m (rŏbin hūḍ) Italian: Robin Hood m Japanese: ロビン・フッド (Robin Fuddo) Korean: 로빈 후드 (Robin Hudeu) Latvian: Robins Huds m Marathi: रॉबिन हूड m (rŏbin hūḍ) Persian: رابین‌هود‎ (râbin-hud) Portuguese: Robin Hood m Russian: Ро́бин Гуд (ru) m (Róbin Gud) Spanish: Robín de los Bosques m Swedish: Robin Hood

Noun

Robin Hood (plural Robin Hoods)

1. A criminal or vigilante with similar social tendencies.
   • 1862, Henry T. Spicer, “Black Flags in the Channel”, in Charles Dickens, editor, All the Year Round, volume 6, page 523:

     There were still nobly-born and accomplished sea-rovers — Robin Hoods of the wave — […]

   • 1954, Howard Greenfield (lyrics), Neil Sedaka (music), “Stupid Cupid”, performed by Connie Francis:

     Hey now, go play Robin Hood with somebody else's heart.

   • 2002, Peter Drahos; John Braithwaite, Information Feudalism: Who Owns the Knowledge Economy?:

     Of course the story is more interesting and complex than that; there are Robin Hoods of infofeudalism – the Free Software Movement and many groups like Napster.

Further reading

• Robin Hood at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “Robin Hood”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
• “Robin Hood”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.
• “Robin Hood”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• “Robin Hood”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.