fife
noun
a high-pitched transverse flute used commonly in military and marching musical groups.
fife
1 American
[fahyf]
/ faɪf /
noun
verb (used with or without object)
-
fifes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fifed,
past participle, past
-
fifing
present participle
Fife
2
American
[fahyf]
/ faɪf /
noun
-
Also called Fifeshire. a historic county in E Scotland.
-
a region in E Scotland. 504 sq. mi. (1,305 sq. km).
Fife
1
British
/ faɪf /
noun
Fife
2
British
/ faɪf /
noun
fife
3
British
/ faɪf /
noun
verb
fife
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fifesimple
-
fifessimple
-
have fifedperfect
-
has fifedperfect
-
am fifingprogressive
-
are fifingprogressive
-
is fifingprogressive
-
have been fifingperfect progressive
-
has been fifingperfect progressive
Past
-
fifedsimple
-
had fifedperfect
-
was fifingprogressive
-
were fifingprogressive
-
had been fifingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fife
1540–50; < German Pfeife pipe 1
Explanation
A fife is a musical instrument that looks like a very small flute. Fifes are usually made of wood, rather than metal, and are common in military marching bands. A fife is much more high-pitched than a flute—it's also louder and more shrill sounding. It was a popular instrument in some of the folk music in medieval Europe, and especially during the Colonial period in America, when it was played more than violins or pianos. Because it's so portable and relatively loud for its size, the fife became widely used in military and marching bands starting during the Renaissance period.
Vocabulary lists containing fife
Music to My Ears: Instrumental Vocab
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Musical Instruments - Introductory
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Musical Instruments - Middle 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:
“Death to My Hometown” carried a faint whiff of Revolutionary War cosplay as several E Streeters temporarily became a miniature fife and drum corps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2024
The two presidents celebrated the “ironclad alliance” amid fife and drums on the White House lawn ahead of their high-level meetings and a state dinner.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 26, 2023
A fife and drum corps perform at King and Market streets before the parade passes through.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2021
There was a “Spirit of ’76”—three men with fife and drum.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2020
But someone else he knows must, someone he cares enough about to risk his fife for.
From "Legend" by Marie Lu
Fife Cook said the hearing was a "draconian procedure" and suggested council time and resources could be better used in providing essential services.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
The public and the press were excluded from the three-hour Standards Committee meeting on Wednesday despite Fife Cook stating he wanted the hearing to be open to all.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
In response to the concerns raised by Fife Cook regarding safeguarding, a council spokesman said in a statement: "Safeguarding children and young people is our highest priority."
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
The Proclaimers, famous for singing with Scottish accents, were formed in 1983 by twin brothers Craig and Charlie Reid who are from Auchtermuchty in Fife.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
His real name is King Bartholomew Archibald Reginald Fife, a fine, kingly name—a name with a great destiny, of course.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Then the “sounds of Nazi marches with fifes and drums came through the radio.”
From Slate ● Jan. 26, 2025
His supporters, some dressed as American Revolution-era patriots and playing fifes, were thrilled by Ramaswamy’s turn in the spotlight Wednesday night.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
Look for fifes and drums, decorated automobiles, tractor-pulled floats, marching dance teams and pageant winners.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2022
You heard the muffled drums and the fifes that played lowly.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 6, 2017
The sounds of beating drums and whistling fifes, and the cries of “Huzzah! Huzzah!” blew toward me over the rooftops.
From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson
He let himself be drummed and fifed home by the town militia towards evening.
From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul
A drum corps was organized, if that could be said to be organized in which every member drummed or fifed independently of all others.
From The Story of the Raising and Organization of a Regiment of Volunteers in 1862 Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, Commandery of the District of Columbia, War Papers 46 by Spear, Ellis
So I was, and I voted for him, drummed for him, fifed and blowed; that was no reason for my thinking him the best man we had for the office.
From The Humors of Falconbridge A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes by Falconbridge
Unlike the buccaneers, who had fired high to cripple their enemies above decks, the French fifed low to smash the hull of their assailant.
From Captain Blood by Sabatini, Rafael
The city fathers have decked out some of Boston's sons in Revolutionary costumes and sent them roaming through the streets fifing and drumming.
From Time Magazine Archive
Now they had prepared a little fleet to pass over to the Fourth of July celebration, which some queer drumming and fifing, from the opposite bank, had announced to be "on hand."
From Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 by Fuller, Margaret
O nimble fifing Jack, And drummer making din So deftly on the skin, With thy rat-tattooing.
From The Humorous Poetry of the English Language; from Chaucer to Saxe by Parton, James
Youths and maidens, garlanded and gayly raimented, go about fifing and piping, and trolling the chosen songs of spring.
From The God of Love by McCarthy, Justin H. (Justin Huntly)
Orioles, to be sure, after a month of silence, again have fits of merry fifing.
From The Foot-path Way by Torrey, Bradford
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.
