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  1. stool pigeon love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Slang A person acting as a decoy or as an informer, especially one who is a spy for the police.
  2. n. A pigeon used as a decoy.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A pigeon fastened to a stool, and used as a decoy.
  2. n. Hence A person employed as a decoy: as, a stool-pigeon for a gambling-house: such a fellow is generally a “rook” who pretends to be a“pigeon.” See pigeon, 2, and rook, 3.
  3. n. One who looks over the hand of a card-player and signals its contents to a confederate.

Wiktionary

  1. n. slang A decoy or an informer, especially one who is a spy for the police.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. a pigeon used as a decoy to draw others within a net; hence, a person used as a decoy for others.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police
  2. n. a dummy pigeon used to decoy others
  3. n. someone acting as an informer or decoy for the police

Etymologies

  1. From the act of tying or even nailing a pigeon to a stool to act as a decoy for hunters. (Wiktionary)
  2. From the practice of tying decoy pigeons to a stool to attract other pigeons. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Sammy Benavides said, “Is a stool pigeon a good man in your book,”

    The Big Nowhere

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synonyms (3)

Words with the same meaning

  1. stooly
  1. stoolie
  1. informant

hypernyms (8)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. informer
  1. betrayer
  1. rat
  1. blabber
  1. squealer
  1. bait
  1. decoy
  1. lure

same context (2)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. narnian
  1. freeze-frame

reverse dictionary (9)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. stool pigeon
  1. pigeon
  1. stool
  1. capper
  1. stooge
  1. stoolie
  1. canary
  1. stale
  1. stall

tags (1)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. avian

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘stool pigeon’.

Comments

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  • seanahan Alright, here is what the article says, clarifying the confusing Wikipedia statement. They would stick a dead pigeon on a stool, which would make other birds less wary, since the birds figure if one bird thinks it's safe, it must be.

    I never imagined this term meant something so archaic. Jun 30, 2007

  • slumry More here: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/stool-pigeon.html regarding the origins of phrase. Jun 30, 2007

  • reesetee Neither does the fact that gazillions of passenger pigeons were slaughtered for food (and thus went extinct), but that happened too, sad to say.... :-\ Never heard that story though, seanahan. Jun 29, 2007

  • seanahan This appears to be a pigeon which is not a homing pigeon, but is released with homing pigeons to distract the enemy. Wikipedia says,

    "The term "stool pigeon" was first coined when passenger pigeons were captured, had their eyelids sewn shut, and were tied to stools. The birds sitting on the stools would be used as live decoys so pigeon hunters would have an easier shot at their quarry"

    but the whole stool thing doesn't make any sense. Jun 29, 2007

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‘stool pigeon’ has been looked up 1264 times, added to 13 lists, commented on 4 times, and is not a valid Scrabble word.