Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A domestic pigeon (Streptopelia risoria) having black markings that form a half circle on the neck.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The ringed dove, wood-pigeon, or cushat, Columba palumbus, a common European bird, distinguished by this name from the stock-dove (C. œnas) and rock-dove (C. livia), the only other British members of this genus.
  • noun A small dove, Turtur risorius, now known only in confinement, having the general plumage of a pale dull creamy color, with a black half-ring around the nape of the neck.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A European wild pigeon (Columba palumbus) having a white crescent on each side of the neck, whence the name. Called also wood pigeon, and cushat.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun the wood pigeon

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun Eurasian pigeon with white patches on wings and neck
  • noun greyish Old World turtledove with a black band around the neck; often caged

Etymologies

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Examples

  • So they entered and found all manner fruits in view and birds of every kind and hue, such as ringdove, nightingale and curlew; and the turtle and the cushat sang their love lays on the sprays.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • So they entered and found all manner fruits in view and birds of every kind and hue, such as ringdove, nightingale and curlew; and the turtle and the cushat sang their love lays on the sprays.

    Arabian nights. English Anonymous 1855

  • The ringdove thanks the Lord for her (his?) suffering in the holy martyrdom of love.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Then, after ending his verses, he fainted again; and, presently reviving he went on to the second cage, wherein he found a ringdove.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • Yea, I will laud thee while the ringdove moans, viii.

    The Book of The Thousand Nights And A Night 2006

  • ‘Very well, thankee, uncle,’ returned Mr. Sempronius, who had just appeared, looking something like a ringdove, with a small circle round each eye: the result of his constant corking.

    Sketches by Boz 2007

  • Her words rang out crystalclear, more musical than the cooing of the ringdove, but they cut the silence icily.

    Ulysses 2003

  • There are other birds that live on fruit and herbage, such as the wild pigeon or ringdove, the common pigeon, the rock-dove, and the turtle-dove.

    The History of Animals 2002

  • Sometimes it lays its eggs in the nest of a smaller bird after first devouring the eggs of this bird; it lays by preference in the nest of the ringdove, after first devouring the eggs of the pigeon.

    The History of Animals 2002

  • Birds of the pigeon kind, such as the ringdove and the turtle-dove, lay two eggs at a time; that is to say, they do so as

    The History of Animals 2002

Comments

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  • "Her words rang out crystalclear, more musical than the cooing of the ringdove, but they cut the silence icily."

    Joyce, Ulysses, 13

    January 14, 2007

  • Ringdoves roost well within his wood,

    shirr songs to suit which mood

    he saunters in

    from "Ode for Ted," Sylvia Plath

    April 14, 2008