pigeon pair

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From a folk belief that pigeons raise two eggs at the same time, a male and a female.

Noun

[edit]

pigeon pair (plural pigeon pairs)

  1. A pair of twins, one male and one female.
  2. Two siblings, one male and one female.
    • 2014, Colleen McCullough, Bittersweet, page 71:
      Oh, please not twins! Just a pigeon-pair, a son and then a daughter.
    • 2014, Margaret Dwyer, Jewels Along The Newell, page 62:
      Their first child, a son, was Albert Lewis, born 1893, and he became known to all of us who can remember this wonderful man, as Lew Davey. The second child was a daughter, Cora Annie, born 1895. [] There were two other children (both stillborn) and, to quote Lew, “It is sad to remember that what should have been a family of four, ended up a “pigeon pair”.
    • 2018, Tom Treanor, One Damn Thing After Another:
      “I 'ave a wife and pigeon pair,” he said. “What's a pigeon pair?” I asked him. “Don'cher know a pigeon pair? That's one of each. A pigeon pair, we calls it at 'ome.