| 释义 |
pigeon's milk
Also pigeon milk.
1. The partly-digested food with which pigeons feed their young.
1888Rolleston & Jackson Anim. Life 53 The young [of the pigeon]..are fed with the so-called ‘pigeon's milk’ regurgitated by the parent bird into the mouth of the young. 1891R. Woods Pract. Guide Successful Pigeon-Culture vii. 73 The parent birds..are also provided with an ample supply of veritable pigeon's milk. 1897Parker & Haswell Text-bk. Zool. II. xiii. 380 It [sc. the young pigeon] is at first covered with fine down, and is fed by the parents with a secretion from the crop, the so-called ‘Pigeon's milk’. 1943T. I. Storer Gen. Zool. xxxi. 659 In adult pigeons, while rearing young, the epithelial lining sloughs off as ‘pigeon milk’ used to nourish squabs in the nest. 1967D. Goodwin Pigeons & Doves of World 45 The parent takes the squab's soft bill..into his, or her, own mouth and regurgitates pigeon's milk. 1973Sci. Amer. Dec. 142/2 They [sc. pigeons] breed fast, and they..feed the young ones in the nest from the protein-rich ‘pigeon milk’, a curd formed in the parent bird's gut.
2. An imaginary article for which children are sent on a fool's errand.
1777Brand Antiq. 398 Sending Persons on what are called sleeveless Errands..for Pigeon Milk, with similar ridiculous Absurdities. 1811Lex. Balatr. s.v., Boys and novices are frequently sent on the first of April to buy pigeons milk. 1828in Craven Gloss. 1872Punch 3 Feb. 46/2. |