cut the pigeon wing

verb

To dance with graceful or fancy movements.

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Meanings

verbcut the pigeon wing (third-person singular simple present cuts the pigeon wing, present participle cutting the pigeon wing, simple past and past participle cut the pigeon wing)

present singular third person cuts the pigeon wing · participle present cutting the pigeon wing · alternative cut the pigeon's wing · alternative cut pigeon wings

  1. USdatedidiomaticTo dance with graceful or fancy movements.

    They all tried to be polite, and Russ grew quite friendly with one of the bellboys who brought them ice water. He asked that boy if he knew how to cut the pigeon wing, and the boy grinned very broadly.

    1922, Laura Lee Hope [pseudonym], Six little Bunkers at Mammy June's
    1 more example

    […]that was because no manager could imagine that audiences would pay to see Negro performers in any other role than that of Mississippi River roustabouts; but there was lots of talent and ambition. I often heard the younger and brighter men discussing the time when they would compel the public to recognize that they could do something more than grin and cut pigeon-wings.

    1912, James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
Cite this entry
APA

cut the pigeon wing. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20the%20pigeon%20wing

MLA

“cut the pigeon wing.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20the%20pigeon%20wing. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cut the pigeon wing,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cut%20the%20pigeon%20wing.

Source: cut the pigeon wing on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.