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 hashing
• Robin Hood's Bay
• Robin Hood tax

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)
• Icelandic: Hrói höttur
• 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)
• Polish: Robin Hood m
• Portuguese: Robin Hood m
• Russian: Ро́бин Гуд (ru) m (Róbin Gud)
• Spanish: Robín de los Bosques m
• Swedish: Robin Hood
• Thai: โรบินฮูด

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, “Stupid Cupid”, Howard Greenfield (lyrics), Neil Sedaka (music), 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”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Robin Hood”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “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.