jenny wren

English

Noun

jenny wren (plural jenny wrens)

1. (UK) The wren, Troglodytes troglodytes, especially as considered (in nursery-rhymes, etc.) as the wife or sweetheart of robin redbreast.
   • 1955, Robin Jenkins, The Cone-Gatherers, Canongate, published 2012, page 75:

     There would have been no one to superintend him, except a squirrel perhaps or a jenny wren, at which he might have winked.

2. (Australia) a female blue wren, or a male blue wren in non-breeding plumage.
   • 1917, Henry Handel Richardson, chapter 6, in Australia Felix, page 115:

     But Rogers had married beneath him, and the sight of the pursy upstart [...] sitting there, in satin and feathers, lording it over his own little Jenny Wren, was more than Mahony could tolerate.

   • 1975, Malcolm McNaughton, Australian Birdlife Illustrated, page 50:

     Female Superb Blue Wrens lack the bold pattern and colour of the male. They are often referred to by the common name of "Jenny-wren".

3. (US) Synonym of herb Robert