pipe

PYP/ˈpaɪp/

Pluralpipes

Verbpipes, piping, piped

35 meanings of pipe

Practice

1
nouncountable
A hard tube that carries water, gas, or other liquids and gases from one place to another.
Like a long straw that carries water instead of a drink.
The plumber replaced a rusty pipe under the kitchen sink.
Water leaked from a cracked pipe in the basement.
Similartube, conduit, duct
2
smokingnouncountable
A tube with a small bowl at one end, used to smoke tobacco.
Like a small cup on the end of a hollow stick that holds burning tobacco.
He filled his pipe with tobacco and lit it.
Grandpa smoked a pipe on the porch every evening.
Note
3
wind instrumentnouncountable
A musical tube that you blow into to make sounds, often with holes to change the notes.
Like a whistle you can blow to make a song.
The shepherd played a simple pipe made of reed.
She blew gently into the pipe to test its sound.
Note
4
nouncountable
One of the many tubes in an organ that makes a sound when air passes through it.
Like a giant whistle inside a big musical machine.
The largest pipe in the church organ stood taller than a person.
Each pipe in the organ produces a single note.
Note
5
icingverbtransitive
To squeeze icing through a narrow tip to decorate a cake or other food.
Like squeezing toothpaste out in a neat line to make shapes.
She piped pink frosting around the edge of the cake.
You can pipe the icing into little stars.
UsageSay pipe icing onto a cake.
Note
6
carry liquidsverbtransitive
To move a liquid or gas from one place to another using pipes.
Like using a long straw to move water from one cup to another.
Workers pipe oil from the rig to the shore.
The system pipes hot steam into the greenhouses.
UsageSay water is piped into a house.
Similarconvey, carry, pump, channel, transport
7
verbfigurativelytransitive
To carry something like sound or signals from place to place, as if through tubes.
Like sending sound through a hose instead of water.
Radio stations pipe news straight into your home.
The cafe piped jazz through hidden speakers.
UsageSay music is piped into a room.
Similartransmit, broadcast, relay, channel, beam
8
verbintransitive
To make a high whistling sound, or to speak in a high voice.
Like a tiny whistle blown softly.
The sparrows pipe from the hedge at sunrise.
Somewhere in the rigging the wind piped all through the night.
UsagePipe up means to start speaking suddenly.
Similarcheep, peep, chirp, squeak, whistle
Note
9
voice tonenouncountable
How high or low someone's voice is, and how it sounds.
The little boy called out, and his high pipe carried across the whole playground.
When she sang, her clear, sweet pipe filled the little church.
UsageSay a high pipe or a thin pipe.
Similarvoice, tone
Note

Less common meanings

10
play instrumentverbtransitive or intransitive
To make music with a flute, bagpipe, or similar kind of pipe instrument.
Like blowing into a whistle to make a song.
The old soldier could still pipe a lively tune.
She learned to pipe on her grandfather's flute.
Similarplay
Note
11
command connectornouncountable
A way for one computer program to send its output straight into another program.
Like a tube that carries one program's answer over to another program.
The script uses a pipe to pass results to the next command.
A pipe links the two programs so data flows between them.
Note
12
feed outputverbtransitive
To send the output of one program straight into another program as its input.
Like pouring what comes out of one machine straight into the next one.
You can pipe the list into a program that sorts it.
She piped the command's output to a file viewer.
UsageSay pipe the output into another program.
Similarfeed, pass
Note
13
vertical barnouncountable
The straight up-and-down line mark, written as |.
Like a thin straight line standing upright on the page.
Type a pipe between the two words in the search box.
She added a pipe to separate the columns in the file.
Note
14
goal postnouncountable
One of the upright posts that make up a goal.
Like the side post of a doorway that a ball can bounce off.
His shot rang off the pipe and bounced away.
The ball clipped the left pipe before going wide.
UsageA shot can hit the pipe.
Similarpost, goalpost, upright
Note
15
bird's callnouncountable
A high, sharp sound, like the call of a small bird.
Like the thin, high note a whistle makes.
We heard the soft pipe of a robin at dawn.
The chick gave a tiny pipe when its mother returned.
Similarcall, trill, whistle, peep, cheep
16
body tubenouncountable
A tube inside the body, such as a blood vessel or the airway to the lungs.
Like the small tubes inside your body that carry blood or air.
Doctors found a blockage in one of the pipes carrying blood to his heart.
Smoke can damage the pipe that carries air to your lungs.
UsageSay food went down the wrong pipe.
Similartube, passage, duct, vessel
Note
17
install tubesverbtransitive
To fit a place with tubes that carry water or gas.
Like fitting a house with tubes so water can reach every room.
Workers will pipe the new bathroom next week.
They piped the entire building for gas last year.
UsageSay a house is piped for gas.
Similarplumb
18
fast internetnounslangcountable
A fast internet connection that carries a lot of data.
Like a wide road that lets many cars through at once.
Our new office has a fast pipe, so downloads finish in seconds.
The whole town shares one pipe to the internet.
UsageSay a fat pipe for a fast connection.
Similarconnection, link, line
Note
19
volcano channelnouncountable
A tall, narrow channel through the Earth's crust below a volcano that magma has flowed through.
Like a chimney inside the Earth that hot melted rock once rose through.
Geologists studied the ancient pipe left behind by an extinct volcano.
Diamonds are sometimes found in a volcanic pipe deep underground.
Similarconduit
Note
20
hit with tubeverbtransitive
To hit someone or something with a metal or plastic tube.
It goes without saying at every turn the cops and I were at it. It was said he may not be a great fighter but he'll stab or pipe anyone, cop or con.
1986, anonymous author, “"Fuck Dolls" Fight Back”
Similarclub, beat, bludgeon
21
penisnounslangvulgarcountable
A slang word for a man's penis.
He yelped when the cold water hit his pipe.
He joked that the cold lake water had made his pipe shrink.
Note
22
have sexverbslangvulgartransitive
A rude slang word meaning to have sex with a woman.
His friends teased him about who he wanted to pipe.
He bragged that he had piped half the women at the party.
Note
23
nouncountable
A very large barrel for wine, or the amount of wine it holds.
Like a giant barrel as tall as a person.
The cellar held a huge pipe of cider from last fall.
The cellar held a huge pipe of port wine.
UsageSay a pipe of wine.
Similarcask, barrel
Note
24
ship signalverbtransitive
To give an order on a ship by playing a pattern of notes on a small whistle.
Like a coach using a whistle to tell the team what to do.
Each evening the bosun would pipe the men to their hammocks.
The boatswain piped the crew to dinner.
Note
25
nounrare
A thin strip of fabric sewn along an edge or seam for decoration, often in a different color.
26
noun
A short, curved type of pasta shaped like a small tube, similar to macaroni.
27
noun
A long, narrow body of ore running through rock.
28
verb
Of cooling metal, to form a hollow space inside as it hardens.
29
nouncolloquialAustralia
A rude, unsigned paper left in public to shame someone.
30
nouncolloquialCanadaUS
An old way of measuring a trip: the distance covered between smoking breaks.
31
nounslang
A phone line, or the phone itself.
32
verb
Of queen bees, to give a high, sharp sound, often just before or after leaving their cells.
33
verb
To wipe the wet off something.
34
verbdated
To look at or notice.
"Hey, Greek," Roger was saying, his droning voice coming unpleasantly into the other's musings, "did you pipe that? Did you ever see anything like her?"
1914, Jackson Gregory, Under Handicap
35
verbslangUS
To make up a story or add made-up details to one.

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of pipe apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

From Old English pīpe, a tube or musical instrument, from an old Germanic word. It was also linked to a Latin word meaning to chirp or peep. Later uses for a storage cask or a measure of liquid came through Middle English and Old French.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

English pipe derives from Old English pīpe. en.wiktionary.org
Old English pīpe meant a tube or musical instrument. en.wiktionary.org
Old English pīpe derives from an earlier Germanic word. en.wiktionary.org
Pipe is etymologically linked to a Latin word meaning to chirp or peep. en.wiktionary.org
The storage-cask and liquid-measure senses came through Middle English and Old French. en.wiktionary.org