Dictionary.com
definitions

stock dove

[duhv]
|

noun

a cosmopolitan wild pigeon, Columba oenas, of Europe.

Origin of stock dove

1300–50; Middle English stokdove; compare German Stocktaube; so called because it nests in hollow tree trunks
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for stock dove

Historical Examples of stock dove

  • Inside the sticks were the feathers and part of the skeleton of a stock-dove.

    The Swan and Her Crew

    George Christopher Davies

  • Among the feathered tribes they mention the “thrush and stock-dove.”

    The Indian in his Wigwam

    Henry R. Schoolcraft

  • Among the feathered tribes they mention the "thrush and stock-dove."

    The American Indians

    Henry R. Schoolcraft

  • You received, you say, last spring a stock-dove from Sussex, and are informed that they sometimes breed in that county.

  • In the stock-dove this is a better, more musical, and a more varied sound than in any other Columba known to me.

    Afoot in England

    W.H. Hudson

British Dictionary definitions for stock dove

stock dove

noun

a European dove, Columba oenas, smaller than the wood pigeon and having a uniformly grey plumage

Word Origin for stock dove

C14: so called because it lives in tree trunks. See stock
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