▪ I. piping, vbl. n.1
(ˈpaɪpɪŋ)
[f. pipe v.1 + -ing1.]
The action of pipe v.1
1. Playing on a pipe; the music of pipes or wind-instruments.
c 1275 Lay. 5110 Þar was gleomenne songe, þar was piping among. 13.. K. Alis. 1042 (Bodl. MS.) At þe fest was harpyng And pipyng & tabournyng. 1535 Coverdale Ecclus. xl. 21 Pypinge and harpinge make a swete noyse. 1641 Hinde J. Bruen iii. 12 The holy Sabbaths..were wholly spent..in Maypoles and Maygames, Pipings and Dancings. a 1706 R. Semple Piper of Kilbarchan xiv, We need not look for Piping mair, Sen Habbie's dead. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. I. i. 308 Unto their piping must all people dance. |
2. The utterance of a shrill sound, or the sound itself (with the varieties of sense indicated in pipe v.1 4–6); cheeping, chirping, whistling; singing or speaking in a shrill tone.
a 1250 Owl & Night. 567 Bo þi piping over-go, Ne boþ on þe craftes na mo. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. xxxix. (Bodl. MS.), The reremous..is a beeste iliche to a mous..wiþ voice & pipinge wiþ crye. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 401/2 Pypynge, crye of yonge bryddys, pipulatus. 1552 Huloet, Pipynge or piepynge of byrdes or fowles. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Piping, the musical signal of bees preparatory to their swarming or casting a second time. 1833 H. Martineau Manch. Strike i, The shrill piping of a bulfinch was heard. 1839–40 W. Irving Wolfert's R. (1855) 19 Between the frosty pipings of the breeze. 1884 J. Phin Dict. Apiculture, Piping of Queens, a sound made by young queens when there is also in the hive a mature queen, but one not yet emerged from her cell. |
3. Weeping, crying. slang or colloq.
1779 Seward in Mme. D'Arblay's Diary 16 June, No more piping, pray. 1837 Marryat Dog-fiend ix, What's the use of piping, boys, I never yet could larn. |
4. attrib.
a 1711 Ken Sion Poet. Wks. 1721 IV. 319 Mirth, Song, Dance, or Piping-match. 1711 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) III. 127 The unmanly disfiguration of their..countenance, which this piping-work produc'd. |
▪ II. ˈpiping, vbl. n.2
[f. pipe v.2 and n.1 + -ing1.]
† 1. The smoking of a pipe, tobacco-smoking.
1660 T. Hall Funebria Floræ (1661) 13 Christmas revels, with dancing, drinking,..potting, piping, gaming. 1670 J. Dawtry in St. Papers, Dom. 458 Too much piping and potting will be an enemy to him. |
2. Gardening. The propagation of pinks, etc. by cuttings (see pipe v.2 3); concr. a cutting or slip of a pink or other plant taken off at a joint.
1788 [see pipe v.2 3]. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 310 Trimming off the leaves, except those at the extremity, which only require their ends shortened, as directed for pipings. 1851 Beck's Florist 192 Pinks. Continue to put out the rooted pipings, and prepare the beds for the next season's bloomers. 1856 [see pipe v.2 3]. |
3. a. The action of furnishing with pipes or tubes. b. concr. Pipes collectively.
1846 Athenæum 14 Feb. 178 Professor Brande concluded his communication by exhibiting zinced iron piping. 1870 Pall Mall G. 18 Aug. 4 Deluged with a strong jet of cold water administered through a piping. 1885 Manch. Exam. 17 Feb. 5/4 To supplement the supply..by..an expensive system of piping from Peterborough. |
4. Dressmaking, etc. a. The trimming or ornamenting of the edge of stuff or the seams of a garment, by means of a fine cord enclosed in a pipe-like fold of the edge or of a distinct strip of stuff; concr., the tubular kind of trimming thus formed. b. Fluting: cf. pipe n.1 4 i. Also attrib.
1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Piping, a kind of cord trimming or fluting for ladies' dresses. Piping-irons, fluting-irons. 1859 Mrs. Stowe Minister's Wooing xii. 126 Miss Prissy..fell..into a discourse on her own particular way of covering piping-cord. 1880 Plain Hints Needlework 100 Of late years, the act of piping has been introduced into under-linen to save trouble; a cord covered with material cut on the bias is inserted. 1891 Pall Mall G. 27 Aug. 4/1 The Princess..wearing a..dark blue serge yachting costume, the coat and skirt outlined with a piping of white. 1894 C. N. Robinson Brit. Fleet 502 The lieutenant's undress coat..had a white edging or piping. 1895 A. Morrison Chron. M. Hewitt v. 256 A man in a blue coat, with dull red piping [in the seams] and brass buttons. 1966 Olney Amsden & Sons Ltd. Price List 13 Cushion Piping cord, 3-yard cards 16/9 dozen cards. 1967 E. Short Embroidery & Fabric Collage i. 20 (caption) Allover pattern in piping cord on white linen. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 96 Pipe, to trim with a narrow tube of fabric, often with a piping cord run through to pad it out. |
5. In harness, A tubular leather covering for a trace-chain, or such coverings collectively. (Cf. pipe n.1 4 a.)
1875 in Knight Dict. Mech. |
† 6. A mode of dressing the hair by curling it around little cylinders or roulettes of wood or baked pipe-clay: cf. pipe n.1 4 j. Obs.
7. In jewellery, Lengths of gold (or other) tubing, fixed to the back of a thin plate of metal to strengthen it.
1881 G. Wallis in Encycl. Brit. XIII. 676/2 Another smaller diadem found in another tomb..is of gold plate, so thick as to require no ‘piping’ at the back to sustain it. |
8. Confectionery. The action or art of ornamenting cakes, etc. with cord-like lines or twists of sugar; concr. the lines or twists so used. Also attrib.
1846 C. E. Francatelli Mod. Cook 398 The cake may be decorated with piping, using for that purpose some of the icing worked somewhat thicker. 1883 R. Haldane Workshop Receipts Ser. ii. 154/1 When dry, ornament with piping, orange-blossom, ribbon, &c. 1884 Birmingham Daily Post 23 Feb. 3/6 Well up in iceing and piping. 1943 Bennion & Stewart Cake Manuf. (ed. 2) xiii. 135 Fruit and piping jellies of various colours and flavours are a very useful commodity for use as fillings or for the decoration of cakes and gateaux. 1948 Good Housek. Cookery Bk. iii. 612 The most satisfactory kind to purchase are made of hand-cut brass without screws, designed to use in conjunction with a piping bag. 1976 E. Turner All-Colour Cookbk. xiii. 139/2 Put the mixture into a piping bag with a 6 mm./½ in. rose nozzle and pipe out 14 to 16 neat roses on an ungreased baking sheet. |
9. Mining. = hydraulicking: see pipe v.2 7.
1881 Raymond Gloss. Mining, Piping. 1. See Hydraulicking. 1895 J. W. Anderson Prospector's Handbk. (ed. 6) 163 Piping, washing gold deposits by means of a hose. |
10. Metallurgy. = pipe n.1 7 e; the formation of such a pipe.
1861 Brit. Patent 1310 4 My invention consists in preventing..the waste occasioned by what is technically called the ‘piping’ of ingots of steel. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Piping... 2. The tubular depression caused by contraction during cooling, on the top of iron or steel ingots. 1923 Glazebrook Dict. Appl. Physics V. 357/2 Piping does not necessarily take the form of a single central cavity. 1924 Greaves & Wrighton Pract. Microsc. Metallogr. ix. 79 If insufficient discard is made, piping..may be present after rolling in the form of a longitudinal fissure..in the central portion of the billet. |
11. (See quot. 1937.)
1937 E. J. Labarre Dict. Paper 187/1 Piping, a species of crease or ribbing in paper due to irregular tension in reeling, to moisture, or being wound too tightly after sizing. 1963 R. R. A. Higham Handbk. Papermaking 283 Piping, creases or ribbing in paper produced by irregular tension on the sheet during reeling. |
12. U.S. The action of beating a person with a length of pipe; an assault of this nature.
1971 Black Scholar Apr.–May 24/2 The racial agitation is soon followed by hundreds of stabbings, pipings, brutal beatings and death. 1977 New Yorker 24 Oct. 64/3 Homosexuality..is one of the major causes of trouble in prison, often resulting in stabbings or pipings. |
▪ III. ˈpiping, ppl. a.
[f. pipe v.1 + -ing2.]
That pipes; characterized by piping.
1. a. Playing on a pipe.
1638 Junius Paint. Ancients 297 A most lively description of a piping satyr. a 1745 Swift On Shadow in Glass 36 Lowing herds, and piping swains. 1836–48 B. D. Walsh Aristoph. Acharnians ii. v, Garlands, sprats, piping-women and black-eyes. |
b. Characterized by piping, i.e. the music of the pastoral pipe (as distinguished from the martial fife, trumpet, etc.): in the Shaksperian phr. piping time(s) of peace.
1594 Shakes. Rich. III, i. i. 24 In this weake piping time of Peace. 1793 Dr. Burney Let. to Mme. D'Arblay 31 Jan., The laws [are] more strictly executed against treason..than in the piping times of peace. 1883 Abp. Forbes in 19th Cent. Oct. 730 In piping times of peace, the national debts of the Australian colonies loom large. |
2. a. Sounding shrilly; whistling; shrill-toned.
1513 Douglas æneis vii. i. 17 The pyping wynd blew in thair taill at nycht. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. iii. iv. 1404 To him shall thy piping poetry..be directed. 1627–77 Feltham Resolves i. lii. 82 With piping acclamations. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk., Rip Van Winkle, An old man replied in a thin piping voice. 1872 Darwin Emotions iv. 88 Dogs, when a little impatient, often make a high piping note through their noses. 1897 Outing (U.S.) XXX. 358/2 There was a piping breeze from the southwest. |
b. In names of particular kinds of birds or other animals having a piping note or cry: as piping crow, the Australian genus Gymnorhina; piping guan, the genus Pipile, of S. America and Trinidad; piping hare, the pika or calling hare, Lagomys; piping plover, a small buff-coloured bird, Charadrius melodus, found in coastal areas of eastern North America. Also piping bullfinch, a bullfinch trained to ‘pipe’ or whistle a tune.
1773 Barrington in Phil. Trans. LXIII. 267 Well known by the common instances of piping Bullfinches. |
1845 Voy. to Port Philip, etc. 53 The warbling melops and the piping crow. 1895 C. Dixon in Fortn. Rev. Apr. 643 The Gymnorhinæ or piping crows of Australia. |
1968 F. Haverschmidt Birds of Surinam 79 White-headed piping guan... Not uncommon in forests. |
1828 C. L. Bonaparte Genera N. Amer. Birds 296 Ringed Plover..and Piping Plover... Common all along the eastern sea coast of North America. 1870 Amer. Naturalist III. 231 The Piping Plover is still found along the coast of Maine. 1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 264/1 Truly a bird of the beach-sand is the Piping Plover. 1964 J. Bull Birds N.Y. Area 185 The Piping Plover breeds on the ocean beaches. |
3. a. quasi-adv. in phr. piping hot, so hot as to make a piping or hissing sound, as a simmering liquid, or a dish freshly cooked; hissing hot; hence gen. very hot.
c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 193 Wafres pipyng hoot out of the gleede. ? a 1550 Freiris of Berwik 377 in Dunbar's Poems (S.T.S.) 297 Ane pair of cunyngis, fat and het pypand. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 141 Beanes..fried all whole as they be, and so cast piping hot into sharp vineger. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 10 When we had climed..Being painfully and pipeing hot. 1707 J. Stevens tr. Quevedo's Com. Wks. (1709) 234 A Mutton-Pye,..piping hot out of the Oven. 1888 Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. xi. 316 The day having been piping hot. |
b. fig. Fresh, quite new, just come out.
1607 Middleton Your Five Gallants ii. i. 57 Gol. Whence comes he, sir? Pur. Piping hot from the university. 1641 Milton Reform. i. Wks. 1851 III. 6 The Booke..in defence of Bishops, which came out piping hot much about the time. 1733 Revolution Politicks vii. 8 A Report is come pipeing hot from Ireland. 1855 Browning Up at a Villa ix, At the post-office such a scene-picture—the new play, piping hot! |