English Explanatory Dictionary

piping hot

English dictionary entry

Meanings

adj
  1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see piping, hot: very hot in a way that involves sizzling, crackling, or similar noises.
  2. Very hot.

Pronunciation

/ˌpaɪ.pɪŋ ˈhɒt/ pīʹpĭng hŏt /ˌpaɪpɪŋ ˈhɑt/ en-us-piping hot.ogg en-au-piping hot.ogg

Word forms

piping hot

Etymology

From Middle English. First attested circa second half of 14th century, from the similarity between the sizzling sound of food cooking in a frying pan and that of musical pipes, from Canterbury Tales http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/2383 by Geoffrey Chaucer: :: "He singeth brokking¹ as a nightingale. / He sent her piment, mead, and spiced ale, / And wafers² piping hot out of the glede³: / And, for she was of town, he proffer'd meed." :: ¹ quavering, ² cakes, ³ coals

Synonyms

hissing hot boiling hot scalding hot steaming hot steaming baking hot hot choleric heated smoking hot

Antonyms

freezing cold freezing ice-cold icy algid Arctic Baltic boreal brass monkeys brumal chill chilled chilly clay-cold cold cold as a mackerel cold as charity frosty frore frozen gelid glacial hiemal inclement nesh nippy parky polar sleety snowy taters wintry
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