1. Trapshooting, Skeet. a disk of baked clay or other material hurled into the air from a trap as a target.
2. Slang. a person in a situation likely to be taken advantage of by others.
Examples from the web for clay pigeon
- Fishing and clay pigeon shooting can also be found on site.
- Please no target practice or clay pigeon shooting allowed.
- He also was interested in trap shooting and was a good clay pigeon shot.
- If the latter, it runs the risk of becoming a clay pigeon.
- It's called a clay pigeon, a tactic in which selected amendments are lumped together as one, but then debated separately.
British Dictionary definitions for clay pigeon
noun 1. a disc of baked clay hurled into the air from a machine as a target to be shot at
2. (US, slang) a person in a defenceless position; sitting duck
Slang definitions & phrases for clay pigeon
clay pigeon
noun phrase - A person who is easily duped; easy mark (1920s+)
- An aircraft catapulted from a ship (1940s+ Navy)
- Something easily done; cinch (1950s+)
Idioms and Phrases with 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