Brer Rabbit
2
9.2
- proper noun
- /ˈbrɛr ˈræbɪt/
- Literature
- Ain't dat what Brer Rabbit did to Brer Fox?
Examples
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He was jes' trying to be like Brer Rabbit.
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What did you say about Brer Rabbit?
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Is that the same Brer Rabbit that got away from the fox?
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You done played your last trick on me, Brer Rabbit.
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Cause Brer Rabbit, he done used up his whole bag o' tricks.
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How did Brer Rabbit get away, Uncle Remus?
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You jes' wait 'til you hears him tell a tale 'bout Brer Rabbit.
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Sit around whiddlin' and tellin' stories... like Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit.
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But dey ain't none of us ever had troubles like po' li'l Brer Rabbit.
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In the tales of Uncle Remus, Brer Rabbit outsmarted his foes with clever tricks.
Synonyms
1
9.5
A clever rabbit who uses tricks in American folk tales
Surface Forms
Morphology
Brer + Rabbit
This is a fixed proper name for a specific folkloric character; the sense 'a trickster rabbit who outsmarts others' is a cultural, lexicalized reference that is not derivable from the parts. 'Brer' is a dialectal form (brother) that many learners will not know, and even knowing 'rabbit' does not let a B1 learner infer the character's story-knowledge, so the expression is opaque.
Etymology
Brer Rabbit comes from old Southern stories told by a storyteller called Uncle Remus, where a small rabbit uses clever tricks to escape danger and fool bigger animals. That's why Brer Rabbit now means a clever, 'tricky' character who can 'outsmart' others.