noun
- a hollow cylinder or cone, as of reed, straw, wood, or metal, in which air vibrates to produce a musical sound, as in an organ or wind instrument
- any wind instrument; specif.,
- bagpipe
- a small medieval fipple flute played with the left hand while the right hand beats a tabor
- a small, shrill whistle, used by a boatswain as in conveying orders to a ship's crew
- a high, shrill sound, as of a voice, birdcall, etc.
- the vocal organs, esp. as used in singing
- a long tube of clay, concrete, metal, plastic, etc., for conveying water, gas, oil, etc. or for use in construction
- a tubular organ or canal of the body
- the respiratory organs
- a somewhat cylindrical deposit of ore
- an opening into a volcano's crater
- anything tubular in form
- a tube with a small bowl at one end, in which tobacco, etc. is smoked
- enough tobacco, etc. to fill such a bowl
- a large cask for wine, oil, etc., having a capacity of about two hogsheads, or 126 gallons
- this volume as a unit of measure
- ☆ Slang something regarded as easy to accomplish
Origin:
ME < OE < WGmc *pipa < VL *pipa < L pipare, to cheep, chirp, peep, of echoic orig.
intransitive verb piped, piping
- to play on a pipe
- to utter shrill, reedy sounds or tones
- Metallurgy to develop longitudinal cavities, as steel sometimes does in ingots and castings during solidification
- Naut. to signal a ship's crew by sounding a boatswain's pipe