Wiktionary

pigeon

See also: Pigeon

English edit

 
a pigeon (Columba guinea)

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), derived from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”), of imitative origin.

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)

  1. One of several birds of the family Columbidae, which consists of more than 300 species.
    Synonyms: columbid, culver, dove
  2. (uncountable) The meat from this bird.
  3. (Canada, US, informal) A person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.
    Synonyms: dupe, fish, sucker; see also Thesaurus:dupe
  4. (countable, politics) A pacifist, appeaser, an isolationist, a dove.
  5. 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.
  6. (Australia, military slang) A weak or useless person.
Derived terms edit
Terms derived from pigeon
Translations edit

Verb edit

pigeon (third-person singular simple present pigeons, present participle pigeoning, simple past and past participle pigeoned)

  1. (transitive) To deceive with a confidence game.

See also edit

Etymology 2 edit

From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. See pidgin.

Noun edit

pigeon (countable and uncountable, plural pigeons)

  1. (archaic, idiomatic, UK, informal) Concern or responsibility.
    It's his/her pigeon.
References edit
  • (concern or responsibility): 1873, John Camden Hotten, The Slang Dictionary (described as Anglo-Chinese)

Further reading edit

French edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Old French pyjon, from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

pigeon m (plural pigeons, feminine pigeonne)

  1. pigeon
    Synonyms: colombe, columbidé
  2. (colloquial) patsy (an easily trickable, naive person)

Derived terms edit

See also edit

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Norman edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Old French pyjon, from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”).

Noun edit

pigeon m (plural pigeons)

  1. (Jersey) pigeon

Derived terms edit

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