[ 'dʒakəbɪn ]
■ noun
1》 historical a member of a radical democratic club established in Paris in 1789, in the wake of the French Revolution.
2》 an extreme political radical.
3》 chiefly historical a Dominican friar.
4》 ( jacobin ) a pigeon of a breed with reversed feathers on the back of its neck like a cowl.
Derivatives
~ic adjective
~ical adjective
~ism noun
Origin
ME (denoting a Dominican friar): from OFr., via med. L. from eccles. L. Jacobus 'James', after the church in Paris, St Jacques, near which the friars built their first convent; the latter eventually became the headquarters of the French revolutionary group.