pipern.1
/ˈpʌɪpə/, U.S. /ˈpaɪpər/ 1. A person who plays a pipe; spec. a person who plays the bagpipes.Formerly often with suggestions of itinerancy, pipe-playing having been associated with travellers, vagrants, etc.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > wind player > [noun] > piper or bagpiper
piperOE
whistlerc1000
stivourc1330
bagpiperc1440
droner1502
pifferaro1833
OE (Mercian) Rushw. Gospels: Matt. ix. 23 Cum uenisset iesus in domum principes et cum uidiset tubicines et turbam tumultuantem : þa cwom se hælend in hus þas aldormonnes & þa gesæh piperas [OE West Saxon Gospels: Corpus Cambr. hwistleras] & menigu ruxlende.
OE Ælfric Gloss. (St. John's Oxf.) 302 Tibicen, pipere [c1225 Worcester pipare].
c1390 Body & Soul (Vernon) (1889) 70 (MED) Wher be..Þis pipers, þat þis bagges blewen?
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 401 Pypare, fistulator.
c1450 (c1380) G. Chaucer House of Fame 1234 Ther saugh I famous..Pipers of the Duche tonge, To lerne love-daunces, sprynges, Reyes, and these straunge thynges.
a1500 Sir Degrevant (Cambr.) (1949) 1585 (MED) Þe pypere [c1440 Thornton mynstralle] haldus hys pays..(Mynstralus shuld be cortays).
1561 T. Norton tr. J. Calvin Inst. Christian Relig. iv. xiii. f. 85v As the common people say, he is an euell pyper but a good fiddler.
1574 in J. H. Burton Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1878) 1st Ser. II. 418 Edmond Broun, ane Hieland pyper.
1600 W. Shakespeare Much Ado about Nothing v. iv. 127 Lets haue a dance..strike vp Pipers.
a1642 H. Best Farming & Memorandum Bks. (1984) 102 There is vjd. allowed to a piper for playinge to the clippers all the day.
1686 G. Stuart Joco-serious Disc. 22 Of aw the pipers I did see, This piper Tony wan the 'gree.
1701 in R. Dinnie Acct. Parish Birse (1865) 143 The presbytries act against pypers and abuses committed at pennie bridals, latewaks, and infares.
1758 S. Johnson Idler 27 May 57 At their convivial assemblies..to hear a piper.
1788 Massachusetts Laws 26 Mar. 680 Common pipers fidlers, runaways, stubborn servants or children, common drunkards, common night walkers, pilferers, wanton and lacivious persons.
1849 G. P. R. James Woodman II. ii. 20 The inveterate piper droned on.
1886 R. L. Stevenson Kidnapped xxv. 259 Ye are a great piper. I am not fit to blow in the same kingdom with ye.
1924 Travel Apr. 35/2 Pipers had trilled rejoicing airs on their peculiarly nerve-racking shepherds' pipes without missing a single evening.
1943 J. Steinbeck in N.Y. Herald Tribune 26 June 4/5 A band of pipers marches out in kilts, with bagpipes and drums and the swingy march of pipers.
2004 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 10 July e 12 A piper, banned from playing his bagpipes in the Byward Market, plans to blast his pipes one last time on the street.
2. A fish.† b. = monkfish n. 1. Obsolete.
a. The lyre gurnard, Trigla lyra (from the sound it makes when caught). Also piper gurnard.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Scorpaeniformes (scorpion-fish) > [noun] > family Triglidae (gurnards) > genus Trigla > trigla lyra (piper)
piper1585
piper fish1585
sea-hen1611
sea-poult1658
werrell1658
harp-fish1661
lyra1706
lyre-fish1884
1585 [see piper fish n. at Compounds 1].
1601 R. Chester Loves Martyr 100 The Piper good for to be eaten.
a1672 F. Willughby Ichthyogr. (1686) Tab. S. 1 Lyra Rond., The Piper.
1766 C. Anstey New Bath Guide iv. ii. 28 She has order'd for Dinner a Piper and Dory.
1769 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) III. iv. 234 The Piper is frequently taken on the western coasts.
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. iii. 185 The piper gurnard,..when taken from the water emits a singular sound.
1936 J. T. Jenkins Fishes Brit. Isles (ed. 2) 54 A southern species, the Piper is only met with off our south and south-western coasts.
1953 R. Mais Hills were Joyful Together i. v. 39 Silver king fish and snapper and jack and mullet and piper.
1996 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 65 597 (table) Piper gurnard Trigla lyra.
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the world > animals > fish > subclass Elasmobranchii > order Pleurotremata > [noun] > angel-fish or monk-fish
monkfish1582
sea-monk1611
sea-devil1634
kingston1666
angelfish1668
skate1668
piper1673
mermaid fish1738
fiddle-fish1748
fiddler1750
monk1756
angel shark1776
shark-ray1836
puppy-fish1880
squat1884
sea-angel1891
1673 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Words 99 The Piper, Raio-squatina Rondel.
c. New Zealand. The garfish Hyporhamphus ihi.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Atheriniformes > [noun] > member of family Hemirhampidae (half-beak)
under-swordfish1681
balao1854
piper1871
half-beak1880
1871 Field 25 Nov. 457/1 I look on the Piper as the float fish of New Zealand.
1927 R. Speight et al. Nat. Hist. Canterbury 198 The well-known garfish or piper..has the lower jaw protruding far beyond the upper.
1985 Proc. Royal Soc. B. 224 197 The piper is a member of the family Hemiramphidae, all species of which exhibit a curious halfbeak.
3. † a. A beetle of the family Curculionidae, characterized by an elongated snout or rostrum; a weevil (snout beetle). Cf. pipe beetle n. at pipe n.1 Compounds 2. Obsolete. rare.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Curculionoidea or Rhyncophora > family Curculionidae or genus Curculio > member of (weevil)
weevilc725
gurgolionc1420
boudc1440
malt boud1440
malt-worm1440
minta1500
weezela1533
kis1658
pope1658
pipe beetle1712
piper1712
hog-beetle1758
rhynchophore1875
1712 Philos. Trans. 1710–12 (Royal Soc.) 27 352 Small English Pipers, or long-snouted Beetles.
b. Scottish. A sea urchin, Cidaris cidaris. Also piper-urchin (rare).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Triploblastica or Coelomata > phylum Echinodermata > [noun] > subphylum Eleutherozoa > class Echinoidea > order Cidaroidea > member of family Cidaridae > member of genus Cidaris
turban1713
turban-shell1753
piper1809
1809 A. Edmondston View Zetland Islands II. 320 E[chinus] Cidaris, found in deep water, Piper.
1870 Nature 17 Feb. 415/1 Cidaris papillata—the ‘Piper’ of the Shetland fisherman, although not now, has hitherto been considered as very rare.
1932 J. M. E. Saxby Shetland Trad. Lore xiii. 203 Shell Fish... ‘Piper’—sea urchin.
4. † b. In plural. With reference to a horse: the condition of being broken-winded. Obsolete. rare.
a. A broken-winded horse; a horse which makes a wheezing noise when under physical strain. Cf. roarer n.1 2. Now English regional (rare).
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the world > animals > mammals > group Ungulata (hoofed) > family Equidae (general equines) > habits and actions of horse > [noun] > horse that wheezes
roarer1778
piper1785
whistler1824
wheezer1831
trumpeter1844
1785 F. Grose Classical Dict. Vulgar Tongue (at cited word) Piper, a broken winded horse.
1831 W. Youatt Horse x. 196 Some horses make a shrill noise when in quick action—they are said to be Pipers.
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 227 There are many degrees of broken wind, which receive appellations according to the noise emitted by the horse; and on this account he is called a piper, trumpeter.
1881 A. Parker Gloss. Words Oxfordshire (Suppl.) Piper, a horse that makes a wheezing noise going uphill.
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the world > health and disease > ill health > animal disease or disorder > disorders of horses > [noun] > respiratory disorders > horse having
pipers1786
wheezer1831
1786 Whole Art Thieving 19 Their method is to buy horses that are buck'd or have the snitches, pipers [note: pipers is broken winded], or grogs, on purpose to deceive ignorant people in changing them.
5. † b. A young pigeon, a squab. Obsolete. rare.
a. A sandpiper. Now U.S.
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the world > animals > birds > order Charadriiformes > family Scolopacidae (snipes, etc.) > [noun] > member of
sandpiper1674
stone-runner1681
sand bird1709
piper1793
tattler1831
water junket1833
tip-up1848
kitty-needy1850
weet-weet1852
peep1864
sand-runner1894
1793 W. Wordsworth Evening Walk 20 The sugh of swallow flocks that twittering sweep,..And restless piper wearying out the shore.
a1827 D. Carmichael in Bot. Misc. (1831) 2 52 The Branaa valley..is a tract of marshy ground..harbouring..hammerkops, sand-larks and pipers.
1867 Amer. Naturalist 1 551 In one of our drives we once captured an infant piper, and I have seen few things more comical than that minute downy ball, adorned with bill and legs seemingly out of all proportion.
a1909 C. W. Stoddard Poems (1917) 106 Brown pipers run upon the sand Like shadows; far out from the land.
2003 Atlanta Jrnl.-Constit. (Nexis) 31 July (Home & Garden section) 21 Its ponds attract shorebirds, including several species of plover, piper and yellowleg.
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the world > animals > birds > perching birds > order Columbiformes (pigeons, etc.) > [noun] > family Columbidae > pigeon > young
dove-birdc1200
culver-bird1382
peepera1586
squab1694
dovelet1825
pigeon-poult1885
piper1885
1885 A. Newton in Encycl. Brit. XIX. 84/2 Italian Piccione and Pipione, Latin Pipio, literally a nestling-bird that pipes or cries out, a ‘Piper’—the very name now in use among Pigeon-fanciers.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > superfamily Apoidea (bees) > swarm of bees > second of season
after-swarm1609
castling1634
casta1661
piper1884
1884 J. Phin Dict. Apiculture 53 Piper, an after-swarm having a virgin queen.
Phrases
P1. to pay the piper: to pay the price of something; to answer for one's actions. who pays the piper calls the tune and variants: whoever pays the cost of an activity, undertaking, etc., has control over it.
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society > trade and finance > payment > pay [verb (intransitive)] > pay expenses
to pay the piper1681
to stand the racket1789
to stand shot1821
to stand Sam1823
to pick up the bill (also check, tab, etc.)1914
1681 Heraclitus Ridens 16 Aug. 2/1 After all this Dance he has led the Nation, he must at last come to pay the Piper himself.
1694 in Jrnl. Cork Hist. & Arch. Soc. (1903) 10 20 For it is indeed you that have paid the piper.
1739 H. Baker & J. Miller Blunderer iv. ix. 149 Be the Person ever so innocent, the Purse is always, for their Profit, a Criminal, and must pay the Piper.
1753 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 25 Dec. (1932) (modernized text) V. 2066 The other powers cannot well dance, when neither France nor the Maritime Powers can..pay the piper.
1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas I. ii. vii. 286 We will make doctor Oloroso pay the piper to our dancing.
1895 Daily News 18 Dec. 9/1 Londoners had paid the piper, and should choose the tune.
1903 G. Bell Let. 30 June (1927) I. viii. 165 I think you'll have to pay some of the piper if you want to call so much of the tune.
1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. 2/1 The United States pays the piper but cannot call the tune, while Russia saves its money and does as it pleases.
1992 M. Bishop Count Geiger's Blues lxvii. 359 We'll do what we can, but, as blunt and heartless as this may sound, it looks like it's simply come time to pay the piper.
P2. as drunk as a piper: very drunk.
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the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk > completely or very drunk
drunk as a (drowned) mousea1350
to-drunka1382
as drunk as the devilc1400
sow-drunk1509
fish-drunk1591
swine-drunk1592
gone1603
far gone1616
reeling drunk1620
soda1625
souseda1625
blind1630
full1631
drunk (also merry, tipsy) as a lord1652
as full (or tight) as a tick1678
clear1688
drunk (dull, mute) as a fish1700
as drunk as David's sow or as a sow1727
as drunk as a piper1728
blind-drunkc1775
bitch foua1796
blootered1820
whole-seas over1820
three sheets in the wind1821
as drunk as a loon1830
shellaced1881
as drunk as a boiled owl1886
stinking1887
steaming drunk1892
steaming with drink1897
footless1901
legless1903
plastered1912
legless drunk1926
stinko1927
drunk as a pissant1930
kaylied1937
langers1949
stoned1952
smashed1962
shit-faced1963
out of (also off) one's bird1966
trashed1966
faced1968
stoned1968
steaming1973
langered1979
annihilated1980
obliterated1984
wankered1992
muntered1998
1728 J. Gay in Miscellanies III. 207 Drunk as a Piper all day long.
1773 R. Graves Spiritual Quixote III. x. xxix. 176 Jerry..proceeded so long in recommending sobriety, and in tossing off horns of ale, till he became as drunk as a piper.
1865 ‘M. Twain’ in California (San Francisco) 23 Dec. 4/3 He came home drunk as a piper.
1894 A. Gordon Northward Ho! 202 If he..was as drunk as a piper, an' ye yersel' had only twa gills,..he'd pruve tae ye..that ye were drunk, an' no him.
1969 A. Sexton Compl. Poems (1981) 179 Drunk as a piper, kicking the traces and determined to tie her up forever.
1996 Daily Mirror (Nexis) 17 Oct. 32 Scott was..drunk as a piper and three sheets to the wind.
P3. Irish English. by the piper! and variants: indicating surprise or amazement, or used for emphasis. Now rare.
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the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [interjection] > religious oaths (referring to God) > other religious oaths
Petera1375
by this (good) lightc1380
passionc1390
by (all) the powers!c1425
hattersa1500
(by) Gog's arms, blood, body?1520
by my halidom1533
by (the) salmon?1536
as I am a sinner1682
by the holy poker1770
by the piper!1790
so help me salmon1834
Jehoshaphat1857
1790 J. Williams Postscript to New Bath Guide x. 99 By the piper of Loughlin, I've been to a ball, I'd a ticket free—gratis—for nothing at all.
1819 V. Taylor Things as They Will Be I. iii. 6 Bread! now by the piper! that's hard; here my fine fellow is a quarter, that will buy bread and butter too.
1837 R. H. Barham Ingoldsby Legends (1840) 1st Ser. 74 Or, by the piper that played before Moses!
1884 ‘Cruck-a-Leaghan’ & ‘Slieve Gallion’ Lays & Legends N. Ireland 16 I hope they don't hear me, Or else, by the piper, they'll make me sing sad.
1899 Cent. Mag. Nov. 45 Be the piper that played afore Moses I'll call out me regiment of throopers.
1928 ‘Brent of Bin Bin’ Up Country i. 2 Be the poipers, we've had enough [rain] for this toime of year!
Compounds
C1. † piper-carl n. Obsolete rare a vagrant piper, a piper of inferior social status. † piper wife n. Obsolete rare a woman who plays a pipe.
ΚΠ
1812 W. Tennant Anster Fair ii. xlv. 42 No paltry vagrant piper-carle is he.
piper fish n. = sense 2a.
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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Scorpaeniformes (scorpion-fish) > [noun] > family Triglidae (gurnards) > genus Trigla > trigla lyra (piper)
piper1585
piper fish1585
sea-hen1611
sea-poult1658
werrell1658
harp-fish1661
lyra1706
lyre-fish1884
1585 J. Higgins tr. Junius Nomenclator 75/1 Acus, aculeatus... Ang. Hornebecke,..pyperfysshe, hornefysshe, [etc.].
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Aiguille,..a Horne-backe, Piper-fish, Gane-fish, or Horne-fish.
1994 B. Anderson All Nice Girls v. 91 Did Arnie think piper fish were worth the effort?
piper gurnard n. see sense 2a.
ΚΠ
a1500 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 693/8 Hec fistilatrix, a piper wyfe.
C2. Compounds with piper's.
piper's cheeks n. swollen or inflated cheeks.
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the world > life > the body > external parts of body > head > face > cheek > [noun] > types of cheek
chuff1530
bladder chops1549
piper's cheeks1602
reds1616
lockram jaws1682
trumpet-cheek1693
lantern-jaws1711
lantern-face1795
1602 W. Clerk Withals's Dict. Eng. & Lat. 286/1 That hath bigge or great cheekes, as they tearme them, pipers cheekes, bucculentus.
2003 Moscow Times (Nexis) 1 Apr. He is a cherub with piper's cheeks and missing front teeth.
piper's news n. Scottish old or out-of-date news.
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society > communication > information > news or tidings > [noun] > old news
piper's news1813
1813 J. G. Dunlop Let. 28 July in Dunlop Papers (1953) III. 183 As you hear often from Greenock..I am afraid all that I have told you is piper's news.
1851 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Aug. 460 That's piper's news and o'er a' the country.
1930 J. Buchan Castle Gay v It was piper's news I was giving him, for he had had the same instructions already.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
pipern.2
/ˈpʌɪpə/, U.S. /ˈpaɪpər/ 1. A person who lays or repairs pipes; a plumber. U.S. in later use.
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society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > utility service workers > [noun] > pipe-layer or -fitter
piper1456
pipelayer1818
pipe-fitter1860
pipeman1863
steamfitter1906
1456 in J. T. Gilbert Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 291 (MED) Hit was ordeyned and made by a semble..that the feys that the pyperys had befor thys tym for har wachyng about the town..be yreryt and payet to the makinge of the pypys of the sayd cytte for a yer.
1469 in J. T. Gilbert Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 332 (MED) [Admissions to franchise..Richard Bennet] piper..[Admitted, on having served apprenticeship..John Talbot] pyper.
1874 A. Boyd N.Y. State Directory (Syracuse) Index 24/2 Nelson Wm. jr. drain piper.
2002 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Nexis) 21 May (Sports section) The plumbers and pipers union has done all the steel work.
2. A person who smokes a pipe. In later use: spec. a person who smokes crack cocaine.
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the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > tobacco > smoking > [noun] > smoker > pipe-smoker
piper1632
pipeman1785
pipe-smoker1841
1632 D. Lupton London & Countrey Carbonadoed 85 He is for the most part a potter and piper.
1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders 41 Pipers and Potters, to sit in Tavernes.
1749 B. Martin Lingua Britannica Reformata (at cited word) Piper, a smoaker of tobacco.
1897 19th Cent. May 821 The early ‘piper’ loses his growth, becomes hoarse, effete, lazy, and stunted.
1949 Times 31 Oct. 5/4 The piper who calls for more than that is as unlikely to be lucky as are the unfortunates who sigh for the days when all tobacco was kept within decent bounds.
1989 Newsday (Nexis) 11 Sept. 16 Clocking means getting a pack of cocaine from somebody like Felix, then standing on a street corner to hand off caps of crack to the pipers and users who drift by.
2000 Hull Daily Mail (Nexis) 31 Jan. 8 I was a smoker, a 20 to 30-a-day man and a piper to boot.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > division Endopterygota or Metabola (winged) > [noun] > order Trichoptera > family Phryganeidae or genus Phryganea > member of (caddis-fly) > larva of
codwormc1450
casewormc1565
codbait1620
caddis-worm1627
straw-bait1632
caddis1653
cockspur1653
piper1653
ruffcoat1653
straw-worm1653
cadew1668
cad1674
caddis-bait1833
1653 I. Walton Compl. Angler xii. 231 One Cadis called a Piper, whose husk or case is a piece of reed about an inch long or longer... There is also a lesser Cadis-worm, called a Cock-spur,..it is much less then the Piper Cadis. View more context for this quotation
1714 Whole Art of Fishing xiii. 85 Called a Piper, whose Husk or Case is a Piece of Reed somewhat better than an Inch long, and about the Bigness of a Tobacco-Pipe.
4. A dog used to lure wild fowl into the pipe of a decoy (see pipe n.1 16); also piper dog.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fowling > fowling equipment > [noun] > decoy bird > decoy-dog
coy-dog1639
toller1831
piper1865
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > family Canidae > dogs used for specific purposes > [noun] > sporting or hunting dog > that acts as a decoy
piper1865
1865 W. White Eastern Eng. I. 111 If given to barking or to frolic, or to take fright without occasion,..such a dog will never do for a ‘piper’.
1886 Athenæum 21 Aug. 231/1 A clever arrangement of screens over which a bushy tailed dog not unlike a fox—the ‘piper’, as it is called—is taught to leap at the word of command.
1968 Punch 8 May 680/2 The Orwell [duck] Decoy consists of two acres of water with four decoy ‘pipes’..worked by Baker, the decoy-man, and Copper, the decoy dog, or ‘piper’.
1993 National Trust News (Thames & Chiltern Region) Spring 4/3 The decoyman and his ‘piper’ dog..approach whichever pipe was upwind in order to lure the wildfowl into the pipe.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > workplace > places where raw materials are extracted > mine > [noun] > passage > for escape or draining of gas
blower1822
piper1883
top-head1883
1883 Standard 8 Nov. 5/8 [The explosion] was caused by what is known as a ‘piper’, or air-hole in the coal.
6. A person who ornaments cakes, etc., with decorative piping; (in later use) a device for applying piping. Cf. pipe v.3 8b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > garnishing > [noun] > icing or sugar coating > icer
icer1881
piper1891
1891 Pract. Confectioner Nov. 241 (advt.) All about Piping. By Herr Willy, an illustrated guide to the young piper.
1904 Daily Chron. 20 June 11/7 Pastrycook and Confectioner..good piper.
1908 Daily Chron. 24 Apr. 11/5 Eclairs, crm. buns, fancies, glazing..; first-class artistic piper.
2001 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 30 June 9 Sow seed through a cake-icing piper with a small metal nozzle.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1OE
n.21456