English Explanatory Dictionary

Pied Piper

English dictionary entry

Meanings

name
  1. A folk tale or legend, dating back to the Middle Ages, about a ratcatcher in variegated attire, hired by the German town of Hamelin, who is not paid for his services and retaliates by luring away the local children by playing a flute.
  2. The flute-playing ratcatcher who is the protagonist and title character of this story.
noun
  1. That which draws many in its wake.

Pronunciation

/paɪd ˈpaɪ.pə/

Word forms

Pied Piper the Pied Piper pied pipers

Etymology

Short for Pied Piper of Hamelin, from pied and piper.

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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