PIGEON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does pigeon mean? 

• PIGEON (noun)
  The noun PIGEON has 1 sense:

1. wild and domesticated birds having a heavy body and short legs

  Familiarity information: PIGEON used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PIGEON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wild and domesticated birds having a heavy body and short legs

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("pigeon" is a kind of...):

columbiform bird (a cosmopolitan order of land birds having small heads and short legs with four unwebbed toes)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pigeon"):

pouter; pouter pigeon (one of a breed of pigeon that enlarge their crop until their breast is puffed out)

dove (any of numerous small pigeons)

Columba livia; rock dove; rock pigeon (pale grey Eurasian pigeon having black-striped wings from which most domestic species are descended)

band-tail pigeon; band-tailed pigeon; bandtail; Columba fasciata (wild pigeon of western North America; often mistaken for the now extinct passenger pigeon)

Columba palumbus; cushat; ringdove; wood pigeon (Eurasian pigeon with white patches on wings and neck)

domestic pigeon (domesticated pigeon raised for sport or food)

squab (an unfledged pigeon)

Ectopistes migratorius; passenger pigeon (gregarious North American migratory pigeon now extinct)

Holonyms ("pigeon" is a member of...):

Columbidae; family Columbidae (doves and pigeons)

 Context examples 

Once more on the road to Thornfield, I felt like the messenger-pigeon flying home.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I don’t stand for that, mister, but there’s a stool pigeon or a cross somewhere, and it’s up to you to find out where it is.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Fool!” said the woman, “that is not your little pigeon, that is the morning sun that is shining on the chimney.”

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

So noble a pie, such tender pigeons, and sugar in the gravy instead of salt!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

This term most commonly refers to the species Columba livia, or rock pigeon.

(Pigeon, NCI Thesaurus)

So a big pigeon pie was brought in and put on a sidetable, and I made a hearty supper, for I was as hungry as a hawk, while Mr. Dance was further complimented and at last dismissed.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

She became a pest to him, like a policeman following him around the stable and the hounds, and, if he even so much as glanced curiously at a pigeon or chicken, bursting into an outcry of indignation and wrath.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

As we limped homewards, sadly mauled and discomfited, we saw them for a long time flying at a great height against the deep blue sky above our heads, soaring round and round, no bigger than wood-pigeons, with their eyes no doubt still following our progress.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

From each man's girdle hung sword or axe, according to his humor, and over the right hip there jutted out the leathern quiver with its bristle of goose, pigeon, and peacock feathers.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And the horses shook themselves, and the dogs jumped up and barked; the pigeons took their heads from under their wings, and looked about and flew into the fields; the flies on the walls buzzed again; the fire in the kitchen blazed up; round went the jack, and round went the spit, with the goose for the king’s dinner upon it; the butler finished his draught of ale; the maid went on plucking the fowl; and the cook gave the boy the box on his ear.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)