Meanings
plural homing pigeons
- A variety of domesticated rock pigeon (Columba livia) that has been selectively bred to be able to find its way home over extremely long distances.
“What I mean is, just stick around and you'll probably find the thing.” “You think it will return?” “I do.” “Like a homing pigeon?” “That's the idea.”
1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XV, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC1 more example
In her telling, she sought Musk out after the deal closed, pressing him to meet and discuss how she could make NBCUniversal a bigger media partner “via email, text, I may have been considering a homing pigeon”.
2023 September 30, Hannah Murphy, quoting Linda Yaccarino, “The wildest job in Silicon Valley”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 17Synonyms: carrier pigeon, homer, homer pigeon, messenger pigeon, racer, racing homer, racing pigeon
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA variety of domesticated rock pigeon (Columba livia) that has been selectively bred to be able to find its way home over extremely long distances.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian пощенски гълъб
- пощенски гълъб (poštenski gălăb)domesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Catalan colom missatger
- colom missatgerdomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Dutch postduif
- postduifdomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Esperanto leterkolombo
- leterkolombodomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Estonian kirjatuvi
- kirjatuvidomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Finnish kirjekyyhky
- kirjekyyhkydomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
French pigeon voyageur
- pigeon voyageurdomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
German Brieftaube, Reisetaube
- Brieftaubedomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
- Reisetaubedomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
- Reisebrieftaubedomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
- Posttaubedomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Hungarian postagalamb
- postagalambdomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Icelandic bréfdúfa
- bréfdúfadomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Irish colúr frithinge
- colúr frithingedomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Italian piccione viaggiatore
- piccione viaggiatoredomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Japanese 伝書鳩
- 伝書鳩 (denshobato)domesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Norwegian Bokmål brevdue
- brevduedomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Persian کالوج
- کالوج (kâluj)domesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Polish gołąb pocztowy
- gołąb pocztowydomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Portuguese pombo-correio
- pombo-correiodomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Russian почто́вый го́лубь
- почто́вый го́лубь (počtóvyj gólubʹ)domesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Spanish paloma mensajera
- paloma mensajeradomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Swedish brevduva
- brevduvadomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Welsh columen ddychwel
- columen ddychweldomesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Yiddish פּאָסטטויב
- פּאָסטטויב (posttoyb)domesticated rock pigeon with strong homing instinct
Cite this entry
homing pigeon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/homing%20pigeon
“homing pigeon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/homing%20pigeon. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “homing pigeon,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/homing%20pigeon.
Source: homing pigeon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.