Crossword clues for carrier pigeon
carrier pigeon
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Homing \Hom"ing\ (h[=o]m"[i^]ng), p. a. Home-returning; -- used specifically of carrier pigeons.
Homing pigeon, any pigeon trained to return home from a distance. Also called carrier pigeon. Most are bred from the domestic pigeon Columba livia. Homing pigeons are used for sending back messages or for flying races. By carrying the birds away and releasing them at gradually increasing distances from home, they may be trained to return with more or less certainty and promptness from distances up to four or five hundred miles. The birds typically do not stop on their way home, and may average as much as 60 miles per hour on their return trip. If the distance is increased much beyond 400 miles, the birds are unable to cover it without stopping for a prolonged rest, and their return becomes doubtful. The record for returnig from a distance is close to 1,200 miles. Homing pigeons are not bred for fancy points or special colors, but for strength, speed, endurance, and intelligence or homing instinct. Although used since ancient times, homing pigeons have been largely displaced for practical purposes by radio and electronic communications, but they are still used in some special situations at the end of the 20th century. They were used in military operations as recently as in World War II.
Wiktionary
alt. A domestic pigeon which transports attached messages or very small parcels from the place where it is released to a familiar destination. n. A domestic pigeon which transports attached messages or very small parcels from the place where it is released to a familiar destination.
WordNet
n. a homing pigeon used to carry messages
Usage examples of "carrier pigeon".
They might think he was simply a glorified carrier pigeon, but Yuri knew better.
The boys told them of the unhanded carrier pigeon brought down by the hawk.
It was only one pigeon among many, and there was nothing to indicate to any onlooker that it was a carrier pigeon, which had come up from the hollow trunk of the old tree from a cote concealed in the base.
It does look like a carrier pigeon, said Angua, putting down the book.
A Carrier Pigeon helicopter settled onto the pad as a small team of men waited to board.
The English carrier pigeon has a wide mouth, large nostrils, elongated eyelids, a long beak.
More than that would have been undue credit to the outlander, whose deception by carrier pigeon had caused the sorcerer to cancel standby plans to take Cynosure and Blazetongue.