clay pigeon
noun
Trapshooting, Skeet. a disk of baked clay or other material hurled into the air from a trap as a target.
Slang. a person in a situation likely to be taken advantage of by others.
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Nearby words
clay, clay court, clay eater, clay flour, clay mineral, clay pigeon, clay road, clay stone, clay, henry, clay-colored robin, clay-colored sparrow
Origin of clay pigeon
An Americanism dating back to 1885–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for clay pigeon
Next morning the clay-pigeon match came off, as usual, on the grounds of the Springfield Gun Club.
Harvard Stories|Waldron Kintzing PostThe annexed engravings show pictures of clay-pigeon shooting and of the firing of a ten-inch disappearing gun at Sandy Hook.
British Dictionary definitions for clay pigeon
clay pigeon
noun
a disc of baked clay hurled into the air from a machine as a target to be shot at
US slang a person in a defenceless position; sitting duck
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Idioms and Phrases with clay pigeon
clay pigeon
A person easily duped or taken advantage of, as in You're a clay pigeon for all of those telephone fund-raisers. The term alludes to the clay pigeon of trapshooting, which replaced the use of live birds in this sport in the 1860s. Its transfer to figurative use in the first half of the 1900s probably is explained by the much older slang use of pigeon for “dupe.” Also see fall guy.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.