Jacobin

[jak-uh-bin] /ˈdʒæk ə bɪn/
noun
1.
(in the French Revolution) a member of a radical society or club of revolutionaries that promoted the Reign of Terror and other extreme measures, active chiefly from 1789 to 1794: so called from the Dominican convent in Paris, where they originally met.
2.
an extreme radical, especially in politics.
3.
a Dominican friar.
4.
(lowercase) one of a fancy breed of domestic pigeons having neck feathers that hang over the head like a hood.
Origin
1275-1325; Middle English Jacobin < Old French (frere) jacobin < Medieval Latin (frater) Jacōbinus. See Jacob, -in1
Related forms
Jacobinic, Jacobinical, adjective
Jacobinism, noun
British Dictionary definitions for Jacobin

Jacobin

/ˈdʒækəbɪn/
noun
1.
a member of the most radical club founded during the French Revolution, which overthrew the Girondists in 1793 and, led by Robespierre, instituted the Reign of Terror
2.
a leftist or extreme political radical
3.
a French Dominican friar
4.
(sometimes not capital) a variety of fancy pigeon with a hood of feathers swept up over and around the head
adjective
5.
of, characteristic of, or relating to the Jacobins or their policies
Derived Forms
Jacobinic, Jacobinical, adjective
Jacobinically, adverb
Jacobinism, noun
Word Origin
C14: from Old French, from Medieval Latin Jacōbīnus, from Late Latin Jacōbus James; applied to the Dominicans, from the proximity of the church of St Jacques (St James) to their first convent in Paris; the political club originally met in the convent in 1789
Word Origin and History for Jacobin

early 14c., of the order of Dominican friars whose order built its first convent near the church of Saint-Jacques in Paris, from Old French Jacobin (13c.) "Dominican friar," also, in the Middle East, "a Copt;" see Jacob. The Revolutionary extremists took up quarters there October 1789. Used generically of radicals and allegedly radical reformers since 1793. Related: Jacobinism.