pie

¹

[pahy]

noun

1. a baked food having a filling of fruit, meat, pudding, etc., prepared in a pastry-lined pan or dish and often topped with a pastry crust.

   apple pie; meat pie.

2. a layer cake with a filling of custard, cream jelly, or the like.

   chocolate cream pie.

3. a total or whole that can be divided.

   They want a bigger part of the profit pie.

4. an activity or affair.

   He has his finger in the political pie too.

5. pizza.

pie

²

[pahy]

noun

1. magpie.

pie

³

[pahy]

noun

pied, pieing 

1. a spelling variant of pi.

pie

⁴

Or pye

[pahy]

noun

1. (in England before the Reformation) a book of ecclesiastical rules for finding the particulars of the service for the day.

pie

⁵

[pahy]

noun

1. a former bronze coin of India, the 12th part of an anna.

PIE

⁶

abbreviation

1. Proto-Indo-European.

pie

¹

/ paɪ /

noun

1. a baked food consisting of a sweet or savoury filling in a pastry-lined dish, often covered with a pastry crust

2. 1. to have an interest in or take part in some activity

   2. to meddle or interfere

3. illusory hope or promise of some future good; false optimism

pie

²

/ paɪ /

noun

1. an archaic or dialect name for magpie

pie

³

/ paɪ /

noun

1. printing a variant spelling of pi 2

pie

⁴

/ paɪ /

noun

1. a very small former Indian coin worth one third of a pice

pie

⁵

/ paɪ /

noun

1. history a book for finding the Church service for any particular day

pie

⁶

/ paɪ /

adjective

1. informal,  to be keen on

Other Word Forms

• pielike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pie¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English pi(e), pey; of obscure origin

Origin of pie²

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English pi(e), peie, from Old French, from Latin pīca, akin to pīcus “woodpecker”

Origin of pie³

First recorded in 1470–80; translation of Latin pīca “magpie”; (the allusion is obscure); pica ¹, pie ²

Origin of pie⁴

First recorded in 1855–60; from Hindi pāī “quarter, fourth part,” from Sanskrit pādikā; pada ( def. ); pice ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of pie¹

C14: of obscure origin

Origin of pie²

C13: via Old French from Latin pīca magpie; related to Latin pīcus woodpecker

Origin of pie³

C19: from Hindi pā'ī, from Sanskrit pādikā a fourth

Origin of pie⁴

C15: from Medieval Latin pica almanac; see _pica ¹

Origin of pie⁵

from Māori pai ana

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. pie in the sky,

   1. the illusory prospect of future benefits.

      Political promises are often pie in the sky.

   2. a state of perfect happiness; utopia.

      to promise pie in the sky.

2. easy as pie, extremely easy or simple.

3. nice as pie, extremely well-behaved, agreeable, or the like.

   The children were nice as pie.

More idioms and phrases containing pie

• apple-pie order
• easy as pie
• eat crow (humble pie)
• finger in the pie
• slice of the pie

Example Sentences

Teyana Taylor knows there’s no such thing as too much apple pie.

From Los Angeles Times

He’d baked it with almond milk, lemon zest and those same backyard blackberries, set in a baby-blue ceramic pie plate that looked like it had been borrowed from a grandmother’s kitchen.

From Salon

Could it be that Erdogan has fingers in too many pies - including Russia, Ukraine, Syria, and Nato - for European leaders to want to pick a fight?

From BBC

After all these years, he’s still planning ahead, and there will be more stair climbs and more opportunities for blueberry pie.

From Los Angeles Times

He bought pies from a fruit stand off Interstate 80 between San Francisco and Sacramento and delivered them as apologies to targets of his rants.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• cake 
• candy 
• confection 
• cookie 
• fruit 
• ice cream 
• pastry 
• sweet