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Robin Hood, n.|ˈrɒbɪn ˈhʊd| Forms: 4 Robyn hood, 4–6 hode; Sc. 5 Robyne, 6 Robyn, Robene Hude, 6 Robeyn Hwde; 6 Robin Hoode, -hoode, 6– Robin Hood, -hood, 8 -Hood. [A personal name, whether real or fictitious is uncertain: see Child's Ballads III. 40–56, and the prefatory matter to Ritson's Robin Hood.] 1. The name of a popular English outlaw traditionally famous from at least the fourteenth century; hence allusively, an outlaw or bandit, or leader of such persons. Also, more widely, any person who acts irregularly for the benefit of the poor. † a tale (or gest) of Robin Hood, an extravagant story.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 402, I can rymes of Robyn hood, and Randolf erle of Chestre. c1425Wyntoun Cron. vii. x. 3525 Lytill Ihon and Robyne Hude..In Yngilwode and Barnysdale Thai oysyd all this tyme thare trawale. 1439Rolls of Parlt. V. 16 The same Piers Venables..with many other unknowyn,..in manere of Insurrection, wente into the wodes in that Contre, like as it hadde be Robyn-hode and his meyne. 1471Ripley Comp. Alch. in Ashm. (1652) 175 Many man spekyth..Of Robyn Hode, and of his Bow, Whych never shot therin, I trow. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1874) II. 155 Fables and Iestis of Robyn hode, Or other tryfyls that skantly ar so gode. 1562J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 77 Tales of Robin hood are good among fooles. a1586Sidney Apol. Poetry (Arb.) 51 Lastly,..they cry out with an open mouth, as if they out shot Robin Hood. 1597Carew MSS. (1869) 273 Sundry loose persons, as some of the McShees..and others, became Robin Hoods, and slew some of the Undertakers. 1617Moryson Itin. ii. 181 Hugh MacGuyer Lord of Fermanagh, and the first Robinhood of this great rebellion. 1625Hart Anat. Ur. i. iii. 36 Let vs proceed to a point..which will seeme to many a strange Paradox, or a tale of Robin Hood. 1875F. Hall in Lippincott's Mag. XV. 343/2 It was a notorious freebooter, a Hindu Robin Hood, that I had dropped upon. 1931J. Buchan Blanket of Dark v. 96 This Catti..robbed especially rich men..but spared the Church and the poor—a shabby Robin Hood. 1948G. V. Galwey Lift & Drop iv. 70 Strip cartoons relating the adventures of Hugh Stinton the Robin Hood of private enquiry agents. 1967Listener 30 Mar. 421/2 The challenge of an Asian-style Robin Hood telling the poor that they will be fattened with good food for which the rich and corrupt..will be forced to pay. 1973P. B. Austin tr. Sjöwall & Wahlöö's Locked Room xxiv. 203 She thought of him as a Robin Hood who stole from the rich to give to the poor. 1976Oadby & Wigston (Leics.) Advertiser 26 Nov. 2/4 The plot involves five main characters, all budding Robbin Hoods who realise there is money in fur coats. 1978M. Puzo Fools Die xi. 119, I still had a little bit of the Robin Hood in me. attrib. and Comb.1653E. Chisenhale Cath. Hist. 284 If any contemn the authority of the Romane Church, that he shall not be able to assure himself of Scripture, any more then of a Robinhood-tale. 1835James Gipsy vi, ‘This is a very Robin-Hood-like scene,’ said Colonel Manners. 1851Palgrave Norm. & Eng. I. 563 Prosecuting a Robinhood insurrectionary warfare in Lotharingia. 1951Koestler Age of Longing ii. iii. 235 Pierre..practised a kind of Robin Hood democracy. 1963A. Lubbock Austral. Roundabout 161 The bushrangers also had a number of allies..for their Robin Hood attitude to their victims. 1975Times 18 Apr. 4/7 A home loan fraud with a Robin Hood quality..to obtain mortgages for Asian immigrant families. 1977It May 29/3 Ideally these would be assessed on a Robin Hood basis. †2. a. One who acted the part of Robin Hood in a mummer's play or yearly festival. Hence Robin Hood's days, Robin Hood's men. Obs.
1473Paston Lett. III. 89, I have kepyd hym thys iij yer to pleye Seynt Jorge and Robyn Hod and the Shryff off Notyngham. 1531Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. V. 432 Item, vj quarteris gray taffatis of Jeynes to be ane parte of the Kingis Robene Hudis baner. 1549Latimer 6th Serm. bef. Edw. VI, X v b, Syr thys is a busye daye wyth vs,..it is Robyn hoodes daye. Ibid., It was faine to geue place to Robyn hoodes men. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 23/1 God will not haue us occupied like little children in puppets or hobbie-horses, as players and Robin hoodes. 1589Hay, any Work for a Cooper 3 Hearing either the Sommer Lord with his Maie game, or Robin Hood with his Morrice daunce going by the Church. 1616Niccolls Londons Artillery 87 This worthy practise,..when her Robin Hood Had wont each yeare..to lead his yong men out. †b. The play or mummery in which Robin Hood was the leading character. Obs.
1578Gen. Assembly in Child Ballads III. 45/1 All kynd of insolent playis, as King of May, Robin Hood, and sick others, in the moneth of May, played either be bairnes at the schools, or others. 1580Reg. Privy Council Scot. III. 277 Dischargeing all and sindrie his Majesteis liegis of using of Robene Hude and uther vane and unlesum gammis. 3. As a plant-name: †a. (See quot.) Obs.
1665Rea Flora 126 This common Anemone is by many Gentlewomen, and others as ignorant, called Robin Hood, Scarlet and John. b. dial. = Robin1 6.
1844W. Barnes Poems Rural Life 105 Theös bank wi' eltrot flow'r An Robinhoods drest. 1848–in south-western dialect use (see Britten & Holland, and Eng. Dial. Dict.). 4. Used fig. with allusion to hood.
1611Beaum. & Fl. Philaster v. iv, Let not..Your Robin⁓hoods, Scarlets and Johns, tie your affections In darkness to your shops. 5. In various genitive combs., as Robin Hood's bargain, pennyworth: see pennyworth 3 d; Robin Hood's barn, used as the type of an out-of-the-way place; esp. in phr. (a)round Robin Hood's barn, by a circuitous route (lit. and fig.); Robin Hood's feather, hatband (see quots. 1820, 1828); Robin Hood's mile, one of several times the recognized length.
1559W. Cuningham Cosmogr. Glasse 57 Those are Robin Hodes miles, as the prouerbe is. 1709Brit. Apollo No. 58. 3/1 When..a Purchace you reap, That is wondrous Cheap, They Robin-Hood Bargains are call'd. 1820Knowlson Cattle-Doctor 47 Traveller's joy, (or Robin Hood's feather): it grows among ling, and runs to a great length. 1828Craven Gloss., Robin Hood's hat-band, common club-moss. Lycopodium clavatum. a1854J. F. Kelley Humors of Falconbridge (1856) 220 The way some folks have of going round ‘Robin Hood's barn’ to come at a thing. 1878N. & Q. 22 June 486/2 ‘Where have you been today?’ ‘All round Robin Hood's barn! I have been all about the country, first here and then there.’ 1913E. M. Wright Rustic Speech xi. 189 To go round by Robin Hood's barn (Cmb. w. Midl.) is to go a roundabout way, to go the farthest way. 1928S. Lewis Man who knew Coolidge 17 When it came to talking, why say, he wandered all round Robin Hood's barn! 1934E. M. Rhodes Beyond Desert 201 Wagon⁓road goes all around Robin Hood's barn to get to my place. 1951H. Wouk Caine Mutiny xxxix. 464, I have gone all the way around Robin Hood's barn to arrive at the old platitudes, which I guess is the process of growing up. 1977Time 31 Jan. 1/3 Your article on birth control goes around Robin Hood's barn for an answer to the birth control problem. 6. Used attrib. and absol. to designate a type of high-crowned hat with the brim turned up at the back and down at the front, trimmed with a feather.
1894C. G. Harper Revolted Woman ii. 43 Rational Dress..is only Bloomerism with a difference... A ‘Robin Hood’ hat, even as in the bygone years, crowns this confection. 1939R. Chandler Big Sleep xi. 79 Her black hair was glossy under a brown Robin Hood hat. 1944A. Thirkell Headmistress x. 220 What interested him was her hat; a kind of Robin Hood hat of green felt with a long quill stuck jauntily through the crown. 1960News Chron. 11 Apr. 8/4 Gone are the heavy-looking trilbies... In their place have come the delta and the Robin Hood. 1966‘A. York’ Eliminator iv. 66 Wilde..dressed in flannel bags and a sports coat, added an old Robin Hood. 1975W. Hildick Bracknell's Law 36, I was accosted by a little old woman in black: black coat, black stockings, black hat—and all a throwback to the forties, with the hat of the Robin Hood type. Hence Robin-Hood v., to live like Robin Hood; Robin-ˈHoodish a., characteristic of a Robin Hood; beneficent to or benefiting the poor; Robin-Hoodism (see quot.). nonce-wds.
1856Kingsley Poems, The Invitation, Once a year, like schoolboys, Robin-hooding go. 1887Ch. Times 9 Dec. 1013/1 If the question were merely a matter of Robin-Hoodism—the robbing of the rich for the sake of the poor. 1974Listener 18 July 86/3 The morally respectable, Robin-Hoodish bank robbery. |