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noun Piping n. 1.A small cord covered with cloth, used as trimming for women's dresses. 2.Pipes, collectively; as, the piping of a house. 3.The act of playing on a pipe; the shrill noted of birds, etc. 4.A piece cut off to be set or planted; a cutting; also, propagation by cuttings.
verb Pipe v. t. (past & past part. piped; pres. part. piping) 1.To perform, as a tune, by playing on a pipe, flute, fife, etc.; to utter in the shrill tone of a pipe. "A robin... was piping a few querulous notes." 2.(Naut.) To call or direct, as a crew, by the boatswain's whistle. "As fine a ship's company as was ever piped aloft." 3.To furnish or equip with pipes; as, to pipe an engine, or a building.
Pipe v. i. 1.To play on a pipe, fife, flute, or other tubular wind instrument of music. "We have piped unto you, and ye have not danced." 2.(Naut.) To call, convey orders, etc., by means of signals on a pipe or whistle carried by a boatswain. 3.To emit or have a shrill sound like that of a pipe; to whistle. "Oft in the piping shrouds." 4.(Metal.) To become hollow in the process of solodifying; said of an ingot, as of steel.
adjective Piping adj. 1.Playing on a musical pipe. "Lowing herds and piping swains." 2.Peaceful; favorable to, or characterized by, the music of the pipe rather than of the drum and fife. 3.Emitting a high, shrill sound. 4.Simmering; boiling; sizzling; hissing; from the sound of boiling fluids. Piping crow, Piping crow shrike, Piping roller (Zool.), any Australian bird of the genus Gymnorhina, esp. Gymnorhina tibicen, which is black and white, and the size of a small crow. Called also caruck. Piping frog (Zool.), a small American tree frog (Hyla Pickeringii) which utters a high, shrill note in early spring. Piping hot, boiling hot; hissing hot; very hot. (Colloq.)
Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48
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