Meanings
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1
noun
a member or supporter of the radical Jacobin Club during the French Revolution, or by extension a radical political reformer
The pamphlet accused its author of being a Jacobin who wished to overturn the monarchy.
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2
adj
relating to the Jacobin Club or to radical revolutionary politics
The government feared that Jacobin ideas would spread across the border.
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3
noun
a fancy domestic pigeon breed distinguished by a hood of reversed feathers around the head and neck
The Jacobin's feathered hood rose around its head like a cowl.
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4
noun
a hummingbird of the genus Florisuga
A white-necked Jacobin hovered near the flowering tree.
Thesaurus
Etymology
From French jacobin, originally a Dominican friar associated with the order's house on the Rue Saint-Jacques in Paris. The revolutionary club took its name from the former Dominican convent where it met. The pigeon was named for its feather hood, likened to a friar's cowl; the hummingbird name makes a similar visual comparison.