pigeon
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: government
military
politics
war
Etymology: Etymology tree
Latin pīpiō
Proto-Indo-European *-ōder.
Proto-Indo-European *-Hōder.?
Latin -ō
Latin pipio
Old French pyjonbor.
Middle English pygeoun
English pigeon
Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), derived from Latin pīpiāre (“to chirp”), of imitative origin. Partly displaced native English dove.
Inflected forms:
form: pigeons
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: pidgeon
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
form: pigeons
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: pigeoning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: pigeoned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: pigeoned
pos: verb
tags: past
form: pidgeon
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: One of several birds of the family Columbidae within the order Columbiformes.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: The meat from this bird.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
gloss: A person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.
pos: noun
tags: Canada
US
countable
informal
gloss: A pacifist, appeaser, an isolationist, a dove.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: A person hired to transport film footage out of a region where transport options are limited.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Kalb rushed to the airport and found a "pigeon" to take out the film: an American woman headed for London.
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.
gloss: A weak or useless person.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
countable
slang
gloss: To deceive with a confidence game.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
Derived words: antipigeon
blue pigeon flyer
Bresse pigeon
carrier-pigeon
clay pigeon
cock pigeon
cut the pigeon wing
domestic pigeon (Columba livia domestica or
fly the blue pigeon
future pigeon
Green Pigeon
hen pigeon
jealous as a Barbary pigeon
messenger pigeon
moon pigeon
owl pigeon
peak-crested pigeon
pib
pibbin
pidge
pigeonable
pigeon band
pigeon banding
pigeonberry
pigeon-blood
pigeon blue
pigeon breast
pigeon-breasted
pigeon breed
pigeon breeder
pigeon breeding
pigeon bug
pigeon-chested
pigeon chest
pigeon clock
pigeon coop
pigeon cot
pigeon cote
pigeon crop
pigeon defence
pigeon defense
pigeon dirt
pigeon disease
pigeondom
pigeon drop
pigeon dropper
pigeon dropping
pigeon droppings
pigeoneer
pigeon English
pigeoner
pigeon fancier
pigeon-fancier
pigeon fancy
pigeon fancying
pigeon feather
pigeon flute
pigeon fly
pigeonfoot
pigeongram
pigeongrass
pigeonhawk
pigeon-hearted
pigeonhole
pigeon-hole
pigeon hole
pigeonholing
pigeon-holing
pigeonhouse
pigeon house
pigeon journal
pigeon keeper
pigeon keeping
pigeonless
pigeonlike
pigeon-livered
pigeon loft
pigeon louse fly
pigeon lung
pigeon magazine
pigeon milk
pigeon pair
pigeon pea
pigeon pie
pigeon-pie
pigeonplum
pigeon plumage
pigeon pose
pigeon post
pigeon racer
pigeon racing
pigeon ring
pigeonry
pigeon shoot
pigeon's milk
pigeon squab
pigeon toe
pigeon-toed
pigeon tremex
pigeonweed
pigeon whistle
pigeon wing
pigeonwing
pigeonwood
pigeony
pigeon young
pijon
put the cat among the pigeons
stool pigeon
street pigeon
topknot pigeon
utility pigeon
White Pigeon
Translations: