Word.ws English Dictionary

around Robin Hood's barn

around Robin Hood's barn prepositional phrase: the long way around; a roundabout or circuitous route.

Prepositional phrase

  1. (idiomatic) the long way around; a roundabout or circuitous route
  2. (idiomatic) all over the place

Origin of around Robin Hood's barn

Reference to Robin Hood, the legendary outlaw, whose barn was simply the fields and pastures surrounding Sherwood forest, his home. “Around Robin Hood’s barn” simply means all around the countryside, all through the fields and pastures.

Questions about around Robin Hood's barn

What does around Robin Hood's barn mean?
Around Robin Hood's barn means the long way around; a roundabout or circuitous route.
What part of speech is around Robin Hood's barn?
Around Robin Hood's barn is a prepositional phrase.

Words near around Robin Hood's barn in the dictionary

  1. around
  2. around about
  3. around and around
  4. around back
  5. around one's ears
  6. around Robin Hood's barn
  7. around the bend
  8. around the clock
  9. around the corner
  10. around the horn
  11. around the traps

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: around Robin Hood's barn (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-around Robin Hood's barn.ogg.

Cite this entry: “around Robin Hood's barn.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/around_robin_hood%27s_barn. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.