stool pigeon

English

Etymology

From the act of tying or even nailing a pigeon to a stool to act as a decoy for hunters.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

Noun

stool pigeon (plural stool pigeons)

1. (slang) A decoy or an informer, especially one who is a spy for the police.

   Synonyms: stoolie, stooly; see also Thesaurus:informant

Translations

decoy

• Finnish: vasikka (fi) (slang)
• French: balance (fr) f, indic (fr) m, mouchard (fr) m
• Greek: πληροφοριοδότης (el) m (pliroforiodótis), (colloquial) χαφιές (el) m (chafiés)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: pentito (it) m
• Polish: kapuś (pl) m, kabel (pl) m
• Russian: наседка (ru) f (nasedka), подсадная у́тка (ru) f (podsadnaja útka)

References

• 2005: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 17th ed. Edited by John Ayto.

Anagrams

• not-pologies, notpologies