Forms: α. 1 wrenna (werna), 3–7 wrenne, 5 wrenn, 5–6 wrene (6 pl. wreneys), 5– wren. β. 1 wrænna (wærna), 3, Sc. 6–7 wranne, 5 Sc., 9 Sc. and dial. wran (7 wrane, 9 ran), Sc. 6, 9 vran (9 vraun). [OE. wrenna (also with metathesis werna), wrænna (wærna), obscurely related to OHG. wrendo, wrendilo, Icel. rindill.]
1. Ornith. One or other species of small dentirostral passerine birds belonging to the genus Troglodites, esp. the common wren (jenny- or kitty-wren), T. parvulus, native to Europe.
In quot. c. 1450 used in some allusive sense.
α. c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), B 136. Birbicariolus, werna.
a. 1100. Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 132. Parrax, wrenna, uel hicemase.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 564 (Jesus Coll. MS.). Hwat dostu godes among monne? Na mo þene doþ a wrecche wrenne [Cotton MS. wranne]. Ibid., 1717. Þe wrenne [Cotton MS. wranne] for heo cuþe singe Þar com … To helpe þare nyhtegale.
13[?]. in Rel. Ant., II. 107. Levere is the wrenne, Abouten the schowe renne, Than the fithel draut, Other the floute craf.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 349. So that the litel wrenne in his mesure Hath yit of kinde a love under his cure.
c. 1401. Lydg., Flour of Curtesye, 57. The sely wrenne, the titmose also,… have free eleccioun To flyen … Wher-as hem liste.
c. 1450. Merlin, xxviii. 573. Thus shull the knyghtes of the rounde table go to a-venge the deth of the wrenne.
a. 1529. Skelton, P. Sparowe, 600. The prety wren, That is our Ladyes hen.
1593. Marlowe, Edw. II., V. iii. The Wrenne may striue against the Lions strength, But all in vaine.
1613. W. Browne, Brit. Past., I. iv. 13. As little wrens, but newly fledge, First by their nests hop up and downe the hedge.
1652. Benlowes, Theoph., I. xcviii. Shrubs cannot cedars, nor wrens eagles praise.
1710. Addison, Tatler, No. 224, ¶ 2. Thus the fable tells us, that the wren mounted as high as the eagle, by getting upon his back.
1750. C. Smith, State Co. Cork, II. 334. The Wren makes but short flights…; to hunt and kill him is an antient custom of the Irish on St. Stephen’s day.
1768. Pennant, Brit. Zool., II. 268. The wren may be placed among the finest of our singing birds.
1825. Wordsw., The Contrast, 30. This moss-lined shed, green, soft, and dry, Harbours a self-contented Wren.
1864. Bryant, Little People of Snow, 21. A pleasant spot in spring, where first the wren Was heard to chatter.
1888. Newton, in Encycl. Brit., XXIV. 688/2. The range of the Wren in Europe is very extensive.
β. c. 1050. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 260. Litorius, wærna.
a. 1100. Voc., Ibid., 286. Bitorius, wrænna, uel pintorus.
a. 1225. [see α].
c. 1450. Holland, Houlate, 649. The litill we Wran, That wretchit dorche was.
1549. Compl. Scot., vi. 39. Robeen and the litil vran var hamely in vyntir.
1823. Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., 128. Wrans an robin-riddicks.
a. 1842. in Halliwell, Nursery Rhymes, 184. We’ll hunt the wran, says Robin to Bobbin.
a. 1859. in N. & Q., 2nd Ser. VIII. 209/1. The wran, the king of all birds.
1880–91. in Antrim, Cornwall, and Devon glossaries.
1899. Somerville & Ross, Some Exper. Irish R. M., i. The carpenter … wished the divil might run the plumber through a wran’s quill.
Phrases. a. 1500. Image Hypocr., III. 105, in Skelton’s Wks. (1843), II. 434. As wise as any wrenne And holy as an henne.
a. 1598. Fergusson, Prov. (S.T.S.), 10. As sair fights wranes as cranes.
transf. 1601. Shaks., Twel. N., III. ii. 70 [Stage direction]. Enter Maria. Toby. Looke where the youngest Wren of mine comes.
b. With distinguishing epithets.
1638. W. Lisle, Heliodorus, VI. 87. A bird no bigger then … the Iynny Wren.
1648–. [see JENNY WREN].
1808–14. A. Wilson, Amer. Ornith. (1831), II. 188. Sylvia troglodytes, Winter Wren.
1825–. [see KITTY1 2].
1831. J. Rennie, Montagu’s Ornith. Dict., 570. Wren…. Provincial[ly called] Vraun, or Ran. Cutty, Katy, or Kitty Wren.
1848. Maunder’s Treas. Nat. Hist., s.v., The American House Wren (Troglodites domestica) … inhabits the whole of the United States.
1884. Harper’s Mag., March, 676/1. The winter wren [T. hyemalis] … is a saucy little atom.
1914. Brit. Mus. Return, 157. An example of the St. Kilda Wren (Troglodytes hirtensis).
2. Applied, esp. with distinguishing term, to various other small birds of the family Trogloditidæ or Sylviidæ, resembling the common wren in appearance or habits; esp. the gold-crest (Regulus cristatus).
Also hill-, marsh-, reed-, rock-, sedge-, willow-, wood-wren: see HILL sb. 4 f, MARSH 4 b, REED-WREN, ROCK sb.1 9 c, SEDGE sb.1 6, WILLOW sb. 6, WOOD sb.1 Some provincial names are recorded by Swainson (1885), pp. 25–7.
1868. Chambers’s Encycl., X. 287/1. The *Carolina wren … (Thryophorus Ludovicanus) and the Marsh Wren … (Cistophorus palustris) … are found chiefly in the vicinity of water.
1674. Ray, Coll. Words, Eng. Birds 87. The *copped Wren: Regulus cristatus.
1700–. [see COPPED ppl. a. 3].
1750. C. Smith, State Co. Cork, II. 335. The Regulus or *crested wren … is a smaller bird.
1843. Penny Cycl., XXVII. 583/2. [The] Golden-crested Wren … must not be confounded with the rarer *Fire-crested Wren,… also to be seen in Britain. Ibid., 583/1. This species is the … *Gold crested Wren … and Kinglet of the modern British.
1867. H. Macmillan, Bible Teach., iv. (1870), 67. The twitter of the *golden wren.
1768. Pennant, Brit. Zool., II. 511. The small and delicate *golden Crested-wren.
1797. Bewick, Brit. Birds, I, 170. The Golden-crested Wren is diffused throughout Europe.
1830. Booth, Analyt. Dict., I. 98. The smallest of all the British birds, is called the Golden-crested Wren.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 227. The *golden-crown’d Wren: Regulus cristatus.
1774. G. White, Selborne, xli. The feeble little golden-crowned wren, that shadow of a bird, braves our severest frosts.
1823. Latham, Gen. Hist. Birds, VII. 205. *Gold-naped Wren, Sylvia elata,… inhabits Cayenne in the winter.
1802. Montagu, Ornith. Dict., s.v., Yellow Wren…. Provincial[ly called] Willow Wren. *Ground Wren.
1758. G. Edwards, Glean. Nat. Hist., I. 95. The *Ruby-crowned Wren. Ibid. (1760), II. 143. The *Yellow Wren hath … been figured and described by different authors under various names.
1776. Pennant, Brit. Zool. (ed. 4), II. 378. The yellow wren [Silvia trochilus] frequents … places where willow trees abound from which it takes one of its names.
b. Applied to various Australasian species of wren-like birds (see quots.).
Also emeu-, rock-wren (see EMEU 4, ROCK sb.1 9 c).
1848. Gould, Birds Australia, III. 18. Malurus Cyaneus,… Superb Warbler, Blue Wren, etc., of the colonists. Ibid., 29. The Striated Wren [Amytis striatus] ran with amazing rapidity. Ibid., 19–31, 39–40. [many species of Malurus, Amytis, and Hylacola].
3. attrib. and Comb., as wren-hunting, -like; wren-box, a collecting-box used by ‘wren-boys’; wren-boys, in Ireland, a party of boys or young men, carrying a decorated holly-bush with a wren or wrens hanging from it, who go about on St. Stephen’s Day singing verses; wren-bush, a bush used for this; † wren creeper, a variety of tree-creeper (see quots.); wren song, the song carolled by the wren-boys; wren-tail, wren’s-tail, an artificial fly for trout-fishing; wren-tit U.S. (see quot.)
1901. Folk-Lore, June, 131. A *wren-box from the Pitt Rivers Museum at Farnham.
a. 1800[?]. in Croker, Researches in S. Ireland (1824), 233. It won’t agree with the *Wren boys at all.
1824. Croker, Ibid. A holly bush … having many wrens depending from it … is carried from house to house with some ceremony, the ‘Wren boys’ chaunting several verses.
a. 1855. in N. & Q., 1st Ser. XII. 489. Song of the Youghal Wren-boys.
1871. Yarrell’s Brit. Birds (ed. 4), I. 465. The dead bird, hung by the leg between two hoops,… was carried about by the ‘Wren-boys’ [of Cork].
1901. Folk-Lore, June, 131. [He] exhibited a *Wren-bush from co. Wicklow.
1904. Longm. Mag., Oct., 537. The practice of carrying about ‘the wren-bush’ on St. Stephen’s Day.
1811. Shaw, Gen. Zool., VIII. 268. *Wren Creeper,… Size of the … Willow Wren.
1822. Latham, Gen. Hist. Birds, IV. 271. Wren Creeper, Certhia trochilea,… inhabits America.
1696. Aubrey, Misc., iv. 44. A whole Parish running like madmen from Hedg to Hedy a *Wren-hunting.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 36. Wren-hunting. [Particulars follow.]
1900. Westm. Gaz., 15 Jan., 10/1. It used to be a common custom … to make wren-hunting parties a feature of the season from Christmas to New Year.
1641. True Char. of Untrue Bishop, 4. Witnesse his many Sparrowish, *Wrenlike wanton extravagances.
1805. Wordsw., Prelude, V. 207. From those loftiest notes Down to the low and wren-like warblings.
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, cxxxi. I’m nobody—a wren-like journalist.
1855. N. & Q., 1st Ser. XII. 489. The *Wren Song in Ireland.
1837. J. Kirkbride, Northern Angler, 40. The *Wren’s Tail.—This is an excellent summer fly.
1856. ‘Stonehenge,’ Brit. Sports, 245/2. The Wren’s Tail…; legs of a wren’s tail-feather, used as a hackle.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, vi. 204. The *Wrentail, Brown Bent, Froghopper.
1875. Encycl. Brit., II. 38/1. Among the best of these are … the wren-tail, the grouse and partridge hackles.
1872. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 79. Chamæidæ; *Wren-tits … much like a titmouse in general appearance,… with the general habits of wrens.
