dead dove

English

Etymology

A reference to a scene from Arrested Development in which a character inspects a bag labelled "Dead Dove: Do Not Eat", opens it to see what's inside, and then (having found a dead dove) remarks that he isn't sure what he was expecting.

Noun

dead dove (countable and uncountable, plural dead doves)

1. (countable, fandom slang) A disclaimer or tag for a fan fiction, particularly on Archive of Our Own, meant to signify that the fan fiction contains the content that is described as being in it, and as such, readers shouldn't be surprised and shouldn't complain about finding said content therein.
2. (countable, fandom slang) A fan fiction that is particularly disturbing or disgusting due to its subject matter.
3. (uncountable, fandom slang) Such fan fiction collectively.

See also

• do what it says on the tin
• grimdark