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Glite Dictionary
rock dove

rock dove

3.4
A pale grey pigeon with black-striped wings from Europe and Asia
  • noun
  • /rɑk dʌv/
translation icon : paloma bravía
  • Pigeons are rock doves gone to seed and spoiled by easy access to popcorn.

Examples

  • Between five and six thousand birds—"rock doves" gathered from barns and granaries—are to be blasted out of the air.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The rock dove perched on the edge of the building, bobbing its head as it observed the street below.

  • In the park, a group of rock doves gathered around the fountain, cooing softly as they searched for food.

  • While hiking, I spotted a rock dove nestled among the rocks, camouflaged by its grey feathers.

Synonyms

rock pigeon
vsrock dove
3.7

A wild grey pigeon with black stripes on its wings that many domestic pigeons come from

is the older common name often used for the same bird
Columba livia
vsrock dove
  • Specialized
8.3

A pale grey pigeon with black stripes on its wings that many pet pigeons come from

is the everyday common name rather than the Latin label

How Domesticated

rock dove
3.4

Surface Forms

rock dove singular
rock doves plural

Morphology

rock + dove

The compound 'rock dove' is a straightforward noun–noun modifier where 'rock' specifies the habitat/association and 'dove' names the bird, so its meaning (a dove/pigeon associated with rocks) is directly derivable from the parts. This compositional pattern is common cross-linguistically and a B1 learner who knows both words would easily infer the intended species reference.

Etymology

Rock dove comes from the simple picture of a dove living on rock and cliffs. These wild birds later became the ancestors of many 'pigeons' in cities, so the name now means the pale grey wild pigeon.