pigeon

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English pygeoun, borrowed from Old French pyjon, inherited from Late Latin pīpiōnem (“chirping bird”), derived from Latin pīpiāre (“chirp”).

noun

1. One of several birds of the family Columbidae, which consists of more than 300 species.
2. (uncountable) The meat from this bird.
3. (Canada, US, informal) A person who is a target or victim of a confidence game.
4. (countable, politics) A pacifist, appeaser, an isolationist, a dove.
5. A person hired to transport film footage out of a region where transport options are limited.
   Kalb rushed to the airport and found a "pigeon" to take out the film: an American woman headed for London. 1989, Whitman Bassow, The Moscow Correspondents, page 214
   At this point, all the commercial airports in Pakistan were closed. The only way to get film out was over land. John promptly hired me to be what was then known in the business as a "Pigeon," and installed me in a comfortable room in his hotel. […] I would then hand-carry his film out of the country, via Peshawar, the Khyber Pass, through the Kabul Gorge, and up to Kabul, Afghanistan, where I would meet a BBC courier and transfer the film bag. 2021, Hilary Brown, War Tourist: Memoirs of a Foreign Correspondent
6. (Australia, military slang) A weak or useless person.

verb

1. (transitive) To deceive with a confidence game.

Etymology 2

From pidgin English, from a Chinese Pidgin English pronunciation of English business during trade in the Far East. See pidgin.

noun

1. (archaic, idiomatic, UK, informal) Concern or responsibility.
   It's his/her pigeon.