Pipe

n. [A-S. & L. Ger. pîpe, D. pijp, Sw. & Icel. pipa, Dan. pibe, O. H. Ger. pfîfa, N. H. Ger. pfeife, Fr. pipe, Pr. pimpa, It. pipa, piva, Sp. & Pg. pipa, W. pib, Gael. & Ir. pib, piob, Armor. pip or pimp. Cf. FIFE.]

1Sense 1. A wind instrument of music, consisting of a long tube of wood or metal; as, a rural pipe. “Tunable as sylvan pipe.” Milton.

☞ The tubes of wood or metal, by which the tones of an organ are produced, are called pipes.

2Sense 2. Any long tube or hollow body; especially, such a one as is used as a conductor of water or other fluids.

3Sense 3. A tube of clay with a bowl at one end, used in smoking tobacco.

4Sense 4. The chief passage-way of the air in speaking and breathing; as in wind-pipe.

5Sense 5. The key or sound of the voice. Shak.

6Sense 6. A roll in the exchequer, said to be so called from its resemblance to a pipe;—called also pipe-roll; also, the exchequer itself. [Eng.]

7Sense 7. A cask, usually containing two hogsheads, or 126 gallons, used for wine; or the quantity which it contains.

8Sense 8. (Mining.) Ore which runs forward endwise in a hole, and does not sink downward or run in a vein.

Pipe office, an office in which the clerk of the pipe makes out leases of crown lands, accounts of sheriffs, and the like. [Eng.]

v. i. 1. To play on a pipe, fife, flute, or other tubular wind instrument of music. We have piped to you, and ye have not danced. Matt. xi. 17. 2. To have a shrill sound; to whistle. “Oft in the piping shrouds.” Wordsworth.

v. t. [imp. & p. p. PIPED (pipt); p. pr. & vb. n. PIPING.]

1Sense 1. To perform by playing on a wind instrument.

2Sense 2. To utter in a high or sharp tone.

A robin . . . was piping a few querulous notes. W. Irving.