Etymology, Origin And Meaning Of Phrase Stool Pigeon By Etymonline

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Origin and history of stool pigeon

stool pigeon(n.)

"police informer," 1859, American English; earlier "one who betrays the unwary (or is used to betray them)," 1821, earlier "a decoy bird" (1812), from a stool as the movable pole or perch to which a pigeon was fastened to lure wild birds.

Perhaps a stool was the original device, but compare stall "decoy bird" (c. 1500), especially "a pigeon used to entice a hawk into the net" (see stall (n.2)). There may be a convergence. Also see pigeon. and compare stool-ball.

also from 1859

Entries linking to stool pigeon

pigeon(n.)

late 14c., pijoun, "a dove, a young dove" (early 13c. as a surname), from Old French pijon, pigeon "young dove" (13c.), probably from Vulgar Latin *pibionem, dissimilation from Late Latin pipionem (nominative pipio) "squab, young chirping bird" (3c.), from pipire "to peep, chirp," a word of imitative origin. As an English word it replaced culver (Old English culufre, from Vulgar Latin *columbra, from Latin columbula) and native dove (n.). 

The meaning "one easily duped, a simpleton to be swindled" is from 1590s (compare gull (n.2)). Pigeon-hearted (1620s) and pigeon-livered (c. 1600) are "timid, easily frightened." A pigeon-pair (by 1800) are twins of the opposite sex (or family consisting of a boy and a girl only), so called because pigeons lay two eggs, normally hatching a male and a female.

stall(n.2)

[pretense or evasive story to avoid doing something] 1851, slang, earlier stall-off (1812), from the earlier sense of "thief's assistant" (1590s, Greene, "Conny Catching," also staller), especially a pick-pocket's assistant who diverts the attention of the victim and assists in the escape, from a variant of stale "bird used as a decoy to lure other birds" (early 15c.), from Anglo-French estale "decoy, pigeon used to lure a hawk" (13c., compare stool pigeon). The etymological sense is "standstill." It is from Old French estal "place, stand, stall," from Frankish *stal- "position," which is ultimately from Germanic and cognate with Old English steall (see stall (n.1)).

Compare Old English stælhran "decoy reindeer," German stellvogel "decoy bird." The figurative sense of "deception, means of allurement" is recorded by 1520s. Also compare stall (v.2).

The stallers up are gratified with such part of the gains acquired as the liberality of the knuckling gentlemen may prompt them to bestow. [J.H. Vaux, "Flash Dictionary," 1812]

• stool
• stool-ball
• See All Related Words (4)

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Trends of stool pigeon

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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stoolMiddle English stōl, from Old English stol "seat for one person," from Proto-Germanic *stōla- (source also of Old Frisian stol, Old Norse stoll, Old High German stuol, German Stuhl "seat," Gothic stols "high seat, throne"), from PIE *sta-lo-, locative of root *sta- "to stand, makfink1902, of uncertain origin, possibly from German Fink "a frivolous or dissolute person," originally "a finch" (see finch); the German word also had a sense of "informer" (compare stool pigeon). The other theory traces it to Pinks, short for Pinkerton agents, the private police forsneak1550s (implied in sneakish), "creep or steal about privately; move or go in a stealthy, slinking way" (intransitive); perhaps from some dialectal survival of Middle English sniken "to creep, crawl" (c. 1200), which is from Old English snican "to sneak along, creep, crawl," from Pshambles"meat or fish market," early 15c., from schamil "table, stall for vending" (c. 1300), from Old English scamol, scomul "stool...Compare Old Saxon skamel "stool," Middle Dutch schamel, Old High German scamel, German schemel, Danish skammel "footstool...All these represent an early Proto-Germanic borrowing from Latin scamillus "low stool, a little bench," which is ultimately...a diminutive of scamnum "stool, bench," from a PIE root *skmbh- "to prop up, support."...pidginChinese and foreigners for colloquial convenience in business transactions in the ports of China and the Far East," from pigeon...English (1859), the name of the reduced form of English used in China for communication with Europeans, from pigeon, pidgin..."business, affair, thing" (1826), itself a pidgin word (with altered spelling based on pigeon), representing a Chinese pronunciation...pimp[Liberman] The word also means "informer, stool pigeon" in Australia and New Zealand and in South Africa, where by early...buffet1718, "cupboard, sideboard, etc., to hold china plates, etc.," from French bufet "bench, stool, sideboard" (12c.), which...The French word was borrowed in Middle English in the sense "low stool" (early 15c.) but became obsolete....sneaker1590s, "a sneak, one who sneaks," agent noun from sneak (v.). The meaning "rubber-soled shoe" is attested by 1895, American English; so called because the shoe was noiseless. Earlier sneak (1862) was used in the same sense: The night-officer is generally accustomed to wear a spcanarytype of small songbird, 1650s (short for Canary-bird, 1570s), from French canarie, from Spanish canario "canary bird," literally "of the Canary Islands" (where it is indigenous), from Latin Insula Canaria "Canary Island," largest of the Fortunate Isles, literally "island of dogs"SabbathMiddle English sabat, from Old English sabat "seventh day of the week in the Jewish calendar; Saturday" as observed by the Jews as a day of rest from secular employment and of religious observance, from Old French sabat and directly from Latin sabbatum, from Greek sabbaton, from

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TrendingDictionary entries near stool pigeon

• stonework
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• stool
• stool pigeon
• stool-ball
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• stop
• stop-and-go
• stop-cock

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