In Little House in the Big Woods (Chapter 8, “Dance at Grandpa’s”), Uncle George “did a pigeon wing” and bowed low before Grandma before he started to jig.
Someone on one of my listservs posted that they had finally discovered what a pigeon wing was (in relation to something totally non-”Little House”); it was when a person jumped up and clapped their heels together. Pigeon wing isn’t something I’d researched. It’s not in my 1883 Webster’s or my 1892 one. It’s in the 1913 edition, though: “A fancy step executed by jumping and striking the legs together; as, to cut a pigeonwing.”
Weird. I always pictured Uncle George doing the “exit stage right” thing with his elbows, not jumping up and clicking his heels.
