pigeon drop

noun

A confidence trick in which the mark or "pigeon" is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money or more valuable object.

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Meanings

nounpigeon drop (plural pigeon drops)

plural pigeon drops

  1. A confidence trick in which the mark or "pigeon" is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money or more valuable object.

    “You some kind of confidence man or dope peddler or something? You trying to work one of those pigeon drops on me?”

    1952, Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man, Penguin Books (2014), page 330
Cite this entry
APA

pigeon drop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pigeon%20drop

MLA

“pigeon drop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pigeon%20drop. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pigeon drop,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pigeon%20drop.

Source: pigeon drop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.