pipe

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See also: Pipe and PIPE

English[edit]

WOTD – 8 February 2019

Etymology[edit]

An image of a man holding a pipe (noun sense 1.1) to his mouth with his left hand, and playing a tabor with his right, from a stained glass window in Staffordshire, England, UK
The pipes (sense 1.2) of the church organ of St. Mary’s Church, Stapleford Tawney, Essex, England, UK
A water pipe (sense 2.1.1) of the Castielfabib hydroelectric power plant in Valencia, Spain
An orange pipe (sense 4.1) or piping on the armrest of an upholstered seat
A tobacco pipe (sense 6.1) used for smoking

From Middle English pīpe, pype (“hollow cylinder or tube used as a conduit or container; duct or vessel of the body; musical instrument; financial records maintained by the English Exchequer, pipe roll”), from Old English pīpe (“pipe (musical instrument); the channel of a small stream”),[1] from Proto-Germanic *pīpǭ. Reinforced by Vulgar Latin *pīpa, from Latin pipire, pipiare, pipare, from pīpiō (“to chirp, peep”), of imitative origin.

The “storage container” and “liquid measure” senses are derived from Middle English pīpe (“large storage receptacle, particularly for wine; cask, vat; measure of volume”), from pīpe (above) and Old French pipe (“liquid measure”).[2]

The verb is from Middle English pīpen, pypyn (“to play a pipe; to make a shrill sound; to speak with a high-pitched tone”), from Old English pīpian (“to pipe”).[3]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pipe (plural pipes)

  1. Meanings relating to a wind instrument.
    1. (music) A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the tube. [from 10th c.]
    2. (music) A tube used to produce sound in an organ; an organ pipe. [from 14th c.]
      • 1980, Harvey E[lliott] White; Donald H. White, “Wind Instruments”, in Physics and Music: The Science of Musical Sound, Philadelphia, Pa.: Saunders College Pub./Holt, Rinehart and Winston, →ISBN, page 245; republished Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2014, →ISBN, part 3 (Musical Instruments), section 18.7 (The Theater Organ), page 245:
        Most theater organs use many sets (ranks) of reed and flue pipes of various shapes, pipe scales, and so forth to generate a variety of timbres.
    3. The key or sound of the voice. [from 16th c.]
    4. A high-pitched sound, especially of a bird. [from 18th c.]
  2. Meanings relating to a hollow conduit.
    1. A rigid tube that transports water, steam, or other fluid, as used in plumbing and numerous other applications. [from 10th c.]
      • 2006, Richard M. Tanner, “Lockheed Tristar: Single-point Tanker”, in History of Air-to-air Refuelling, Barnsley, South Yorkshire: Pen & Sword Aviation, Pen & Sword Books, →ISBN, part 2 (Technology), page 286, column 1:
        A standard Flight Refuelling Ltd Mk 8 probe nozzle was attached to the probe structural tube and fuel pipe. The pipe was double-walled, and passed through into the fuselage aft of the flight deck; […] A non-return valve was fitted within the fuel pipe aft of the probe nozzle, thus preventing any leakage of fuel if the aircraft lost the probe nozzle inadvertently.
      1. (especially in informal contexts) A water pipe.
        A burst pipe flooded my bathroom.
        • 2000, Richard L. Valentine [et al.], “Chlorine and Monochloramine Decay in Batch and Loop Experiments”, in The Role of the Pipe–Water Interface in DBP Formation and Disinfectant Loss, Iowa City, Ia.: University of Iowa, →ISBN, page 115:
          Corrosion control can be accomplished in distribution systems by adding compounds that form a protective film on the pipe surface, thereby providing a barrier between the water and the pipe.
    2. A tubular passageway in the human body such as a blood vessel or the windpipe. [from 14th c.]
    3. (slang) A man's penis.
      • 2006, Monique A. Williams, Neurotica: An Honest Examination into Urban Sexual Relations, [Morrisville, N.C.]: Lulu Enterprises, →ISBN, page 7:
        He grabs my legs and throws them over his shoulders, putting his big pipe inside me […]
      • 2010, Eric Summers, editor, Teammates, Sarasota, Fla.: StarBooks, →ISBN, page 90:
        He punctuated his demand with a deep thrust up CJ's hole. His giant pipe drove almost all the way in, pulsing against his fingers beside it.
      • 2011, Mickey Erlach, Gym Buddies & Buff Boys, Sarasota, Fla.: StarBooks, →ISBN, page 64:
        He laughed as he knelt down between Duncan's splayed thighs and tore open a packaged condom, then rolled it down over his big fuck-pipe.
  3. Meanings relating to a container.
    1. A large container for storing liquids or foodstuffs; now especially a vat or cask of cider or wine. [from 14th c.]
      • 1808–10, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, Folio Society 1995, p. 329:
        Mr Barretto informed us he had shipped two hundred and forty pipes of Madeira [which] not only impeded the ship's progress by making her too deep in the water, but greatly increased her motion.
      • 1846, Edgar Allan Poe, “The Cask of Amontillado”, in The Works of Edgar Allan Poe, volume I, New York: W. J. Widdleton, published 1849, page 347, OCLC 38115823:
        My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts.
    3. The contents of such a vessel, as a liquid measure, sometimes set at 126 wine gallons; half a tun. [from 14th c.]
      • 1882, James E[dwin] Thorold Rogers, “Weights and Measures”, in A History of Agriculture and Prices in England from the Year after the Oxford Parliament (1259) to the Commencement of the Continental War (1793) […], volume IV (1401–1582), Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, OCLC 847909287, page 205:
        Again, by 28 Hen. VIII, cap. 14, it is re-enacted that the tun of wine should contain 252 gallons, a butt of Malmsey 126 gallons, a pipe 126 gallons, a tercian or puncheon 84 gallons, a hogshead 63 gallons, a tierce 41 gallons, a barrel 31½ gallons, a rundlet 18½ gallons.
  4. Meanings relating to something resembling a tube.
    1. Decorative edging stitched to the hems or seams of an object made of fabric (clothing, hats, curtains, pillows, etc.), often in a contrasting color; piping. [from 15th c.]
    2. A type of pasta similar to macaroni.
    3. (geology) A vertical conduit through the Earth's crust below a volcano through which magma has passed, often filled with volcanic breccia. [from 19th c.]
    4. (lacrosse) One of the goalposts of the goal.
    5. (mining) An elongated or irregular body or vein of ore. [from 17th c.]
    6. (Australia, colloquial, historical) An anonymous satire or essay, insulting and frequently libellous, written on a piece of paper which was rolled up and left somewhere public where it could be found and thus spread, to embarrass the author's enemies. [from 19th c.]
      • 1818 September 26, “Sydney. [Criminal Court.]”, in Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, volume XVI, number 775, Sydney, N.S.W.: By authority [government printer], OCLC 958597594, page 3, columns 2–3:
        On Thursday Mr. William Bland, formerly a Surgeon in the Royal Navy, […] was brought to trial on a charge of libelling the Governor [Lachlan Macquarie], by the composition and publishing of various letters and verses contained in a manuscript book dropped on the Parramatta Road—and thence brought to light. […] [H]owever lenient the sentence passed upon this young man, yet, it is much to be hoped, that from his example pipe-making will in future be reposed solely in the hands of Mr. Wm. Cluer [an earthenware pipe maker] of the Brickfield Hill.
  5. Meanings relating to computing.
    1. (computing) A mechanism that enables one program to communicate with another by sending its output to the other as input. [from 20th c.]
    2. (computing, slang) A data backbone, or broadband Internet access. [from 20th c.]
      A fat pipe is a high-bandwidth connection.
    3. (computing, typography) The character |. [from 20th c.]
  6. Meanings relating to a smoking implement.
    1. (smoking) A hollow stem with a bowl at one end used for smoking, especially a tobacco pipe but also including various other forms such as a water pipe. [from 16th c.]
      • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Four. The Last of the Spirits.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], OCLC 55746801, page 129:
        Sitting in among the wares he dealt in, by a charcoal-stove, made of old bricks, was a gray-haired rascal, nearly seventy years of age; who had screened himself from the cold air without, by a frousy curtaining of miscellaneous tatters, hung upon a line; and smoked his pipe in all the luxury of calm retirement.
      • 1892, Walter Besant, “The Select Circle”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], OCLC 16832619, page 46:
        In former days every tavern of repute kept such a room for its own select circle—a club, or society, of habitués, who met every evening for a pipe and a cheerful glass.
    2. (Canada, US, colloquial, historical) The distance travelled between two rest periods during which one could smoke a pipe. [from 18th c.]

Synonyms[edit]

Hyponyms[edit]

  • (smoking implement): briar

Descendants[edit]

  • → Bengali: পাইপ (paip)
  • → Finnish: piippu
  • → French: pipe
  • → Gulf Arabic: پيپ‎ (pēp, bēb, “smoking pipe”), پايپ‎ (pāyp, bāyb, “medium of transportation (sense 2.1)”)
  • → Hindi: पाइप (pāip)
  • → Italian: pipe
  • → Japanese: パイプ
  • → Korean: 파이프 (paipeu)
  • → Malay: paip (paipu)
  • → Maori: paipa
  • → Portuguese: pipe
  • → Russian: пайп (pajp)

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from pipe (noun)

Translations[edit]

tubular passageway in the human body
elongated or irregular body of ore
smoking implement — see tobacco pipe
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb[edit]

pipe (third-person singular simple present pipes, present participle piping, simple past and past participle piped)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) To play (music) on a pipe instrument, such as a bagpipe or a flute.
    • 1605, R[ichard] V[erstegan], “Of the Antient Manner of Living of Ovr Saxon Ancestors. […]”, in A Restitution of Decayed Intelligence: In Antiquities. Concerning the Most Noble and Renovvmed[sic, meaning Renovvned] English Nation. […], printed at Antwerp: By Robert Bruney; […] [a]nd to be sold […], by Iohn Norton and Iohn Bill, OCLC 1080139422; republished London: Printed by Iohn Bill, […], 1628, OCLC 52073409, page 85:
      [T]he pide Piper with a ſhrill pipe went piping through the ſtreets, and forthwith the rats came all running out of the houſes in great numbers after him; all which hee led into the riuer of Weaſer and therein drowned them.
  2. (intransitive) To shout loudly and at high pitch.
  3. (intransitive) To emit or have a shrill sound like that of a pipe; to whistle.
    • 1827, William Wordsworth, “The Brothers”, in The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth. In Five Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, […], OCLC 7589693, page 125:
      [W]ith the mariners / A fellow-mariner,—and so had fared / Through twenty seasons; but he had been rear'd / Among the mountains, and he in his heart / Was half a Shepherd on the stormy seas. / Oft in the piping shrouds had Leonard heard / The tones of waterfalls, and inland sounds / Of caves and trees: […]
  4. (intransitive) Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.
    Coordinate terms: quack, toot
  5. (intransitive, metallurgy) Of a metal ingot: to become hollow in the process of solidifying.
  6. (transitive) To convey or transport (something) by means of pipes.
  7. (transitive) To install or configure with pipes.
  8. (transitive) To dab moisture away from.
    • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Narrative Resumed by Jim Hawkins: The Garrison in the Stockade”, in Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, OCLC 702939134, part IV (The Stockade), pages 153–154:
      Our chimney was a square hole in the roof; it was but a little part of the smoke that found its way out, and the rest eddied about the house, and kept us coughing and piping the eye.
  9. (transitive, figuratively) To lead or conduct as if by pipes, especially by wired transmission.
    • 2009, Susan Van Allen, “Churches Dedicated to Female Saints—Rome”, in 100 Places in Italy Every Woman should Go, Palo Alto, Calif.: Travelers’ Tales, Solas House, →ISBN, section I (The Divine: Goddesses, Saints, and the Blessed Virgin Mary), page 20:
      Soft baroque music pipes through the ornate, dripping-with-gold church sanctuary.
  10. (transitive, computing, chiefly Unix) To directly feed (the output of one program) as input to another program, indicated by the pipe character (|) at the command line.
  11. (transitive, cooking) To create or decorate with piping (icing).
    to pipe flowers on to a cupcake
    • 1998, Nicholas Lodge; Janice Murfitt, The International School of Sugarcraft: Book One: Beginners, London: Merehurst Press, →ISBN, page 108:
      This means a quantity of runouts can be made in advance, allowing more time to flat ice and pipe the cake.
  12. (transitive, nautical) To order or signal by a note pattern on a boatswain's pipe.
  13. (transitive, slang, of a male) To have sexual intercourse with a female.
  14. (transitive, slang, dated) To see.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:see
    • 1879 October, J[ohn] W[illiam] Horsley, “Autobiography of a Thief in Thieves’ Language”, in Macmillan’s Magazine, volume XL, number 240, London: Macmillan and Co. […], OCLC 1005958675, page 505, column 1:
      So I went and laid down on the grass. While laying there I piped a reeler whom I knew. He had a nark (a policeman's spy) with him. So I went and looked about for my two pals, and told them to look out for F. and his nark.
    • 1942 August 10, “Cinema: New Picture [film review of The Pied Piper]”, in Time‎[1], archived from the original on 25 August 2013:
      The Pied Piper (20th Century-Fox) pipes sumptuous Monty ("The Beard") Woolley out of his wheel chair for the first time since he began playing The Man Who Came to Dinner (TIME, Jan. 26) three years ago. The change is good for him. The belligerent old nanny goat turns into a very human portrait of a crotchety, kindly Englishman caught in France by the Nazi invasion.

Derived terms[edit]

Terms derived from pipe (verb)

References[edit]

  1. ^ “pīpe, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 13 September 2018.
  2. ^ “pīpe, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 13 September 2018.
  3. ^ “pīpen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 13 September 2018.

Further reading[edit]

French[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From the Old French verb piper (“to squeak, chirp”), from Latin pipare (“to squeak”).

Noun[edit]

pipe f (plural pipes)

  1. tobacco pipe
  2. (vulgar) blowjob
    Elle m'a taillé une pipe. ― She blew me.

Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From English pipe

Noun[edit]

pipe m (plural pipes)

  1. the pipe symbol (|)

Further reading[edit]

Italian[edit]

Noun[edit]

pipe f

  1. plural of pipa

Anagrams[edit]

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Inherited from Old English pīpe, from Proto-Germanic *pīpǭ; reinforced by Vulgar Latin *pīpa; some senses are from Old French pipe.

Alternative forms[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pipe (plural pipes or pipe)

  1. A pipe; a piece of tubing used as a channel (often for fluids):
    1. A piece of tubing which string or rope is inserted into.
    2. (medicine) A syringe; a hollow tube for medical removal or insertion.
    3. Any other medical device or equipment based around a chamber or pipe.
    4. A pipe (musical instrument) or a similar wind instrument.
    5. (rare) A pipe as part of a musical instrument (e.g. bagpipes)
  2. A barrel or tub; a container or vessel for the storage of bulk goods, especially wine.
  3. A unit measuring the mass or amount (equivalent to such a container).
  4. A record of a payment or audit acting as part of the Pipe Rolls.
  5. An anatomical or bodily channel or passage, especially one used for respiration.
  6. (rare) A tube-shaped support or holder; something resembling a pipe but not used as one.
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • English: pipe (see there for further descendants)
  • Scots: pipe
References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Old English pīpian.

Verb[edit]

pipe

  1. Alternative form of pipen

Norman[edit]

Etymology[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun[edit]

pipe f (plural pipes)

  1. (Jersey) 120 gallons

Norwegian Bokmål[edit]

Norwegian Bokmål Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nb

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse pípa, from Proto-Germanic *pīpǭ.

Noun[edit]

pipe f or m (definite singular pipa or pipen, indefinite plural piper, definite plural pipene)

  1. a chimney
  2. (smoking) a pipe
  3. an organ pipe
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *pīpaną.

Verb[edit]

pipe (present tense piper, past tense per or peip, past participle pepet, present participle pipende, imperative pip)

  1. (intransitive) to chirp, squeek, to make a sound with a high pitch

References[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old Norse pípa, from Proto-Germanic *pīpǭ.

Noun[edit]

pipe f (definite singular pipa, indefinite plural piper, definite plural pipene)

  1. a chimney
  2. (smoking) a pipe
  3. an organ pipe
Derived terms[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *pīpaną.

Alternative forms[edit]

Verb[edit]

pipe (present tense pip, past tense peip, supine pipe, past participle pipen, present participle pipande, imperative pip)

  1. (intransitive) to chirp, squeek, to make a sound with a high pitch

References[edit]

Portuguese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from English pipe.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

pipe m (uncountable)

  1. (computing) pipe (the redirection of the output of a process directly into the input of another)

Spanish[edit]

Verb[edit]

pipe

  1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of pipar.
  2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of pipar.
  3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of pipar.
  4. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of pipar.
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