carrier pigeon
4
3.5
- noun
- /ˈkɛrɪər ˈpɪdʒɪn/
:
paloma mensajera
- I would have noticed if you'd gotten any phone calls, letters, or even a carrier pigeon.
- send a carrier pigeon
Examples
-
I'm training these to be carrier pigeons.
-
Servants attach messages to the legs of carrier pigeons.
Fiction book (1993) -
Did you know the French have the best carrier pigeons?
-
At issue is the raising of carrier pigeons in Illinois.
Academic text (2002) -
A long-distance carrier pigeon would have been better.
Fiction book (1994) -
A carrier pigeon flutters out of the dark sky and enters its box.
Fiction book (1993) -
It's hard, don't you think, to imagine sending news of a total catastrophe by carrier pigeon?
Fiction book (2001) -
Subsequently, the defendants converted a garage into a pigeon coop and were raising carrier pigeons.
Academic text (2002) -
"A carrier pigeon fluttered through the window, alighting upon a perch near Duskvale.
Fiction book (2002) -
During the war, soldiers often used a carrier pigeon to send important messages between camps.
Synonyms
247
1.0
A plump bird with a small head often seen in cities
3
3.5
A pigeon trained to fly back to its home and carry messages
1
8.6
A pigeon trained to return home after being released
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a homing pigeon trained to carry messages' is directly derivable from combining 'carrier' (one who carries/transport) with 'pigeon' (a bird). This straightforward compositional pattern (a pigeon that carries messages) is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Carrier pigeon comes from real birds used to send messages: people tied a small paper to the leg of a pigeon that would find its way home, so the bird acted as a carrier. That's why the term now means 'a homing pigeon trained to carry messages'.