CARRIER PIGEON • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Carrier pigeon

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/kˈæriər pˈɪdʒən/ Listen

noun

Carrier n.

One who, or that which, carries or conveys; a messenger. "The air which is but... a carrier of the sounds."

One who is employed, or makes it his business, to carry goods for others for hire; a porter; a teamster. "The roads are crowded with carriers, laden with rich manufactures."

(Mach.) That which drives or carries; as:

(a)

A piece which communicates to an object in a lathe the motion of the face plate; a lathe dog.

(b)

A spool holder or bobbin holder in a braiding machine. (c) A movable piece in magazine guns which transfers the cartridge to a position from which it can be thrust into the barrel.

Carrier pigeon (Zool.), a variety of the domestic pigeon used to convey letters from a distant point to to its home.

Carrier shell (Zool.), a univalve shell of the genus Phorus; so called because it fastens bits of stones and broken shells to its own shell, to such an extent as almost to conceal it.

Common carrier (Law.) See under Common, a.

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Etymology of 'Carrier pigeon'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Carrier pigeon" Quotes from Famous Books

... "A carrier pigeon, you mean!" cried Larry. "Why, how fine you planned it, Tony. Just to think of it, having the news flashed straight home, over miles and miles of swamps. But what if a hawk got your bird, ...

— Chums in Dixie - or The Strange Cruise of a Motorboat • St. George Rathborne

... The surviving carrier pigeon was hungry. He fed it, lifted it still banded from its place, cleaned the cage and set it to dry ...

— In Secret • Robert W. Chambers