pipe
Meanings
- Meanings relating to a wind instrument.
- A wind instrument consisting of a tube, often lined with holes to allow for adjustment in pitch, sounded by blowing into the tube.
- A tube used to produce sound in an organ; an organ pipe.
- The key or sound of the voice.
- A high-pitched sound, especially of a bird.
- Meanings relating to a hollow conduit.
- A rigid tube that transports water, steam, or other fluid, as used in plumbing and numerous other applications.
- A water pipe.
- A tubular passageway in the human body such as a blood vessel or the windpipe.
- A man's penis.
- Meanings relating to a container.
- A large container for storing liquids or foodstuffs; now especially a vat or cask of cider or wine. (See a diagram comparing cask sizes.)
- To play (music) on a pipe instrument, such as a bagpipe or a flute.
- To shout loudly and at high pitch.
- To emit or have a shrill sound like that of a pipe; to whistle.
- Of a queen bee: to make a high-pitched sound during certain stages of development.
- Of a metal ingot: to become hollow in the process of solidifying.
- To convey or transport (something) by means of pipes.
- To install or configure with pipes.
- To dab moisture away from.
- To lead or conduct as if by pipes, especially by wired transmission.
- To directly feed (the output of one program) as input to another program, indicated by the pipe character (|) at the command line.
- To create or decorate with piping (icing).
- To order or signal by a note pattern on a boatswain's pipe.
- A surname.
- An unincorporated community in Fond du Lac County, Wisconsin, United States. Named after the calumet (pipe) smoked by native Americans.
- Acronym of private investment in public equity.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
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”), from Proto-West Germanic *pīpā. Reinforced by Vulgar Latin *pīpa, from Latin pipire, pipiare, pipare, from pīpiō (“to chirp, peep”), of imitative origin. Doublet of fife. 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”). In specific contexts, calques similar units of measure such as Portuguese pipa. 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”).