bagpipe
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of bagpipe
First recorded in 1300–50, bagpipe is from the Middle English word baggepipe. See bag, pipe 1
Explanation
A bagpipe is a musical instrument that's played by blowing into a bag through a pipe. The bagpipes are commonly associated with Scotland. It's more common to use the plural form — bagpipes — or even "the pipes" or "a set of pipes." The music produced by bagpipes is distinctive, with a constant harmonizing sound being produced by the drone pipe, and no rests between notes. The bagpipe player squeezes the bag with his arm as he blows a pipe called a chanter, and in formal situations he might wear a kilt and knee socks.
Vocabulary lists containing bagpipe
Music to My Ears: Instrumental Vocab
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Western Europe - Introductory
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Western Europe - Middle School and High School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Other shows retooled their broadcasts to share fond memories of Kirk, between visual tiles crafted in tribute to his life and accompanying bursts of bagpipe processions.
From Slate ● Sep. 22, 2025
The service, which featured bagpipe music, a color guard and the laying of wreaths, concluded after about an hour with the release of a dozen white doves from a woven basket.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 26, 2025
And so she takes that message with her in the evenings when she's teaching her bagpipe class at the Banchory Royal British Legion Club.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2025
A bagpipe and drum band played at the service, which also was attended by Gov. Ned Lamont and other state leaders.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
John was just beginning to play it for the third time when there was an answer to it in the form of a bagpipe jig.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
The family were music lovers, with a strong tradition of bagpiping, and they were all talented tailors, including Donnie.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2025
But bagpiping, it turns out, is a pursuit that has yet to find much of a toehold in China, meaning becoming one of those skilled hands is not easy.
From New York Times ● Feb. 12, 2022
The margins of early printed books are full of waggish doodles—a bagpiping monkey, a knight jousting with a snail.
From The New Yorker ● Aug. 26, 2019
Robert Mitchell, Master of the Art of Piobalreachd, the highest form of classical music of Scottish bagpiping, and folk ‘cellist Karin Loya will perform works written for the bagpipe and ‘cello.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 25, 2014
When there has been a war, and stout old Sandy Sansculotte returns home from India or Crimea, what a bagpiping, shouting, hurraying, and self-glorification takes place round about him!
From Roundabout Papers by Thackeray, William Makepeace
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
