pigeon
See also: Pigeon
English
a pigeon (Columba guinea)
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈpɪ.d͡ʒɪn/
- (US) enPR: pĭjʹən, IPA(key): /ˈpɪ.d͡ʒən/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɪd͡ʒən, -ɪd͡ʒɪn
- Homophone: pidgin
Etymology 1
Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), derived from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”).
Alternative forms
- pidgeon (chiefly archaic)
Noun
pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)
- One of several birds of the family Columbidae, which consists of more than 300 species.
- Synonyms: columbid, culver, dove
- (uncountable) The meat from this bird.
- (Canada, US, informal) A person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.
- Synonyms: dupe, fish, sucker; see also Thesaurus:dupe
- (countable, politics) A pacifist, appeaser, an isolationist, a dove.
- A person hired to transport film footage out of a region where transport options are limited.
- 1989, Whitman Bassow, The Moscow Correspondents (page 214)
- Kalb rushed to the airport and found a "pigeon" to take out the film: an American woman headed for London.
- 2021, Hilary Brown, War Tourist: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent
- At this point, all the commercial airports in Pakistan were closed. The only way to get film out was over land. John promptly hired me to be what was then known in the business as a "Pigeon," and installed me in a comfortable room in his hotel. […] I would then hand-carry his film out of the country, via Peshawar, the Khyber Pass, through the Kabul Gorge, and up to Kabul, Afghanistan, where I would meet a BBC courier and transfer the film bag.
- 1989, Whitman Bassow, The Moscow Correspondents (page 214)
- (Australia, military slang) A weak or useless person.
Derived terms
Terms derived from pigeon
- Afep pigeon (Columba unicincta)
- African owl pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- African green pigeon (Treron calvus)
- African olive pigeon (Columba arquatrix)
- American pigeon (Patagioenas)
- Arabian trumpeter pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- archangel pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- baby pigeon
- band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata)
- barb pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Barbary pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- bare-eyed mountain pigeon
- bare-eyed pigeon (Patagioenas corensis)
- Beretta silver pigeon
- Bismarck imperial pigeon
- black imperial pigeon
- blue pigeon flyer
- Bokhara trumpeter pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Bolle's pigeon (Columba bollii)
- Bresse pigeon
- flock bronzewing pigeon (Phaps histrionica), flock bronzewing (Phaps histrionica)
- brown pigeon (Macropygia phasianella)
- carrier pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- carneau pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Chilean pigeon (Patagioenas araucana)
- Chinese owl pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- city pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- clay pigeon
- cock pigeon
- color pigeon, colour pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Comoros green pigeon (Treron comorensis or Treron australis griveaudi)
- crescent pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes)
- crop pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- cropper pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- crowned pigeon (Goura)
- Delegorgue's pigeon (Columba delegorguei)
- domestic pigeon, (Columba livia domestica), Domestic Pigeon (Columba livia f. domestica)
- dovecot pigeon, dovecote pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Dresden trumpeter pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Eastern bronze-naped pigeon (Columba delegorguei)
- English trumpeter pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- English owl pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- fancy pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- fantail pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- female pigeon
- feral pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- field pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- fire pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- flock pigeon (Phaps histrionica)
- fly the blue pigeon
- form pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- frillback pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- fruit pigeon, fruit-pigeon
- future pigeon
- gimpel pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- green pigeon (Treron)
- helmet pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- hen pigeon
- highflyer pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- hill pigeon (Columba rupestris)
- homer pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- homing pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- ice pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- imperial pigeon (Ducula)
- Indian fantail pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- jacobin pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- John Silver (war pigeon)
- king pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Komorner tumbler pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Madagascar green pigeon, Madagascan green pigeon (Treron australis)
- Micronesian imperial pigeon (Ducula oceanica)
- Micronesian pigeon (Ducula oceanica)
- Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon
- Moluccan rufous-bellied fruit pigeon (Ducula basilica)
- Lahore pigeon (Columba livia domestica), Lahore pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- laurel pigeon (Columba junoniae)
- male pigeon
- New Guinea bronzewing (Henicophaps albifrons), New Guinea Bronzewing Pigeon (Henicophaps albifrons)
- nun pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Old English carrier pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- oriental frill pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- pale-vented pigeon (Patagioenas cayennensis)
- passenger pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
- peak-crested pigeon
- pheasant pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- pheasant pigeon (Otidiphaps nobilis)
- Picazuro pigeon (Patagioenas picazuro)
- pigeon band
- pigeon banding
- pigeon blue
- pigeon breast
- pigeon-breasted
- pigeon breed
- pigeon breeder
- pigeon breeding
- pigeon bug
- pigeon-chested
- pigeon clock
- pigeon cot
- pigeon cote
- pigeon crop
- pigeon defence
- pigeon defense
- pigeon dirt
- pigeon disease
- pigeon drop
- pigeon droppings
- pigeon egg
- pigeon English (archaic)
- pigeon fancier, pigeon-fancier
- pigeon fancy
- pigeon fancying
- pigeon feather
- pigeon feed
- pigeon feeder
- pigeon feeding
- pigeon flute
- pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba)
- pigeon hawk (Falco columbarius)
- pigeon house
- pigeonhole, pigeon-hole, pigeon hole
- pigeonholing, pigeon-holing
- pigeon hunt
- pigeon hunter
- pigeon hunting
- pigeon journal
- pigeon keeper
- pigeon keeping
- pigeon loft
- pigeon lung
- pigeon magazine
- pigeon milk
- pigeon's milk
- pigeon pair
- pigeon pie
- pigeon plumage
- pigeon post
- pigeon shoot
- pigeon squab
- pigeon racer
- pigeon racing
- pigeon ring
- pigeon whistle
- pigeon wing
- pigeon young
- pink pigeon (Columba mayeri), formerly (Nesoenas mayeri)
- plain-headed pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- plain pigeon (Patagioenas inornata)
- plumbeous pigeon (Patagioenas inornata)
- pouter pigeon, powter pigeon (Columba livia)
- put the cat among the pigeons
- racing homer pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- racing pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- ringbeater pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- rock pigeon (Columba livia)
- roller pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- ruddy pigeon (Patagioenas subvinacea)
- rufous-bellied fruit pigeon (Ducula rufigaster)
- rufous pigeon (Patagioenas cayennensis)
- runt pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- Saxon field pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- scandaroon pigeon (Columba livia domestica), Scandaroon pigeon (Columba livia domestica)
- shell-crested pigeon
- silver pigeon
- Silver pigeon
- silvery pigeon
- snow pigeon (Columba leuconota)
- Somali pigeon (Columba oliviae)
- somber pigeon, sombre pigeon (Cryptophaps poecilorrhoa)
- spinifex pigeon {Geophaps plumifera)
- stock pigeon (Columba oenas)
- stool pigeon
- strasser pigeon (Columba livia)
- structure pigeon (Columba livia)
- Sumatran green pigeon (Treron oxyurus)
- Temminck's fruit pigeon (Ptilinopus porphyreus)
- Thuringian field pigeon (Columba livia)
- topknot pigeon
- Torres Strait pigeon (Ducula bicolor)
- Trocaz pigeon (Columba trocaz)
- trumpeter pigeon (Columba livia)
- tumbler pigeon (Columba livia)
- turbit pigeon (Columba livia)
- turbiteen pigeon (Columba livia)
- Victoria crowned pigeon, (Goura victoria)
- war pigeon
- wattle pigeon, wattled pigeon (Columba livia)
- white-collared pigeon
- white-crowned pigeon (Patagioenas leucocephala)
- wild pigeon
- wild pigeon (Ectopistes migratorius)
- Wompoo pigeon (Ptilinopus magnificus)
- Wonga pigeon (Leucosarcia melanoleuca)
- woodpigeon, wood-pigeon, wood pigeon (Columba palumbus or Hemiphaga novaeseelandiae)
- young pigeon
Translations
bird of the dove and pigeon family Columbidae — See also translations at dove
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victim of a confidence game
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Verb
pigeon (third-person singular simple present pigeons, present participle pigeoning, simple past and past participle pigeoned)
- (transitive) To deceive with a confidence game.
See also
- dove
- pidgin
- piper
- squab
- squeaker
Etymology 2
From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. See pidgin.
Noun
pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)
- (archaic, idiomatic, UK, informal) Concern or responsibility.
- It's his/her pigeon.
References
- (concern or responsibility): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary (described as Anglo-Chinese)
Further reading
pigeon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - “pigeon”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
French
Etymology
Inherited from Old French pyjon, from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /pi.ʒɔ̃/
Audio (file)
Noun
pigeon m (plural pigeons, feminine pigeonne)
- pigeon
- Synonyms: colombe, columbidé
- (colloquial) patsy (an easily trickable, naive person)
Derived terms
- aile de pigeon
- je me suis fait pigeonner
- je me suis laissé pigeonner
- l'industrie pigeonnière
- loger avec les pigeons
- loger comme les pigeons
- pigeon à calotte
- pigeon à capuchon
- pigeon à caroncule
- pigeon à cravate
- pigeon à grosse gorge
- pigeon biset
- pigeon bleu
- pigeon boulant
- pigeon bouvreuil
- pigeon capucin
- pigeon carrier
- pigeon cigogne
- pigeon colombin
- pigeon cravaté
- pigeon culbutant
- pigeon d'argile
- pigeon de fantaise
- pigeon de passage
- pigeon de roche
- pigeon de structure
- pigeon des villes
- pigeon de ville
- pigeon domestique
- pigeon domestiqué
- pigeon dragon
- pigeon femelle
- pigeon grosse gorge
- pigeonite
- pigeon mâle
- pigeon messager
- pigeon migrateur
- pigeonnage
- pigeonnant
- pigeonne
- pigeonneau
- pigeonnelle
- pigeonner
- pigeonnier
- pigeonnier contraceptif
- pigeonnier militaire
- pigeon paon
- pigeon ramier
- pigeon romain
- pigeon tambour
- pigeon vole
- pigeon voyageur
- plumer un pigeon
- soutien-gorge pigeonnant
See also
- colombiculteur
- colombicultrice
- colombiculture
- colombier
- colombophile
- colombophilie
- tourte
- tourtereau
- tourterelle
- tourtière
- tourtre
Further reading
- “pigeon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
- poigne
Norman
Etymology
Inherited from Old French pyjon, from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”).
Noun
pigeon m (plural pigeons)
- (Jersey) pigeon
Derived terms
- d'mié-pigeon, p'tit pigeon d'France (“turtledove”)
- pigeon d'colombyi (“stock dove”)
- pigeon d'mé, pigeon d'falaise (“rock dove”)
- pigeon ramyi, pigeon sauvage (“wood pigeon”)