stock dove

noun

Etymology: Middle English stokdouve, stokdove, from stok stock + douve, dove dove; probably from its living in hollow trees

1. : a common European wild pigeon (Columba oenas) resembling the rock pigeon but being darker colored and having the rump gray

2. : an Asiatic dove (Columba eversmanni) related to the European stock dove

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/duv/

a cosmopolitan wild pigeon, Columba oenas, of Europe.

[1300-50; ME stokdove; cf. G Stocktaube; so called because it nests in hollow tree trunks]

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stock dove noun

A dove (Columba oenas), like a small wood pigeon (so called from its habit of nesting in tree stumps or rabbit burrows, or from the erroneous supposition that it represents the ancestor of the domestic breeds)

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Main Entry: ↑stock

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stock dove,

a wild pigeon of Europe.

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[dəv]

n. a gray Eurasian and North African pigeon that resembles a small wood pigeon and nests in holes in trees. ● Columba oenas, family Columbidae