blue pigeon
In nautical slang, a blue pigeon refers to the lead weight attached to a sounding line — the tool sailors dropped overboard to measure water depth.
Etymology timeline
Born ~1850 · no dated citations yetDefinitions
In nautical slang, a blue pigeon refers to the lead weight attached to a sounding line — the tool sailors dropped overboard to measure water depth. The metaphor is visual: the weighted lead flies off the side of a ship and dives down through the water much like a diving bird. It's a lovely example of sailors' poetic tendency to give prosaic tools evocative names, part of the rich vocabulary that made life at sea feel like a world apart.
The first mate called for the blue pigeon as they approached the shallow coastal channel.
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Any member of the genus of the pigeon family.
Comments
(nautical, slang) The lead used for sounding.
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