homing pigeon

Noun

 * 1) A variety of domesticated rock pigeon  that has been selectively bred to be able to find its way home over extremely long distances.

Usage notes

 * The term carrier pigeon is often used, especially in newspaper and magazine articles, for a homing pigeon or racing pigeon that carries messages. Many pigeon fanciers (particularly homer men and homer women) consider this to be a misnomer because the term is outdated and originally referred to the ancestors of present-day Old English carriers. These "carrier pigeons" were formerly used to carry messages before the modern homing pigeon was developed in the 1800s (initially in Belgium and Britain), but is today strictly an exhibition pigeon or show pigeon that has mostly lost its strong homing instinct. The "carrier pigeon" was also one of the breeds used to develop the modern homing pigeon and therefore does have some "carrier blood" in it.

Translations

 * Bulgarian: пощенски гълъб
 * Catalan: colom missatger
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: leterkolombo
 * Estonian: kirjatuvi
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * Georgian: საფოსტო მტრედი
 * German:, Reisetaube, Reisebrieftaube, Posttaube
 * Hungarian:
 * Icelandic: bréfdúfa
 * Irish: colúr frithinge
 * Italian: piccione viaggiatore
 * Japanese:
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:
 * Nynorsk: brevdue
 * Polish: gołąb pocztowy
 * Portuguese: pombo-correio
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian: poštanski ɡolub
 * Spanish: paloma mensajera
 * Swedish:
 * Volapük:, penepejin
 * Welsh: columen ddychwel
 * Yiddish: פּאָסטטויב