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
When Daudet is unsuccessful in discovering the source of an old proverb, a fife player advises him to seek it in “the cicadas’ library,” meaning a field where one lies on one’s back and contemplates.
From New York Times ● Jul. 1, 2021
There was a “Spirit of ’76”—three men with fife and drum.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2020
A soundtrack absent of bagpipes, fife and drums and marching bands.
From Washington Times ● Mar. 18, 2020
Paper and ink, poems and my postbox are medicines that heal the wounds of a fife without freedom.
From "Tasting the Sky" by Ibtisam Barakat
Fife Council said it was awaiting "formal confirmation" from an investigation into the incident, but an initial report did identify "improperly disposed batteries within the waste stream" as a possible cause.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The vehicle was driven a short distance from being picked up in Rosyth, Fife, to the home of Murrell's mother in Dunfermline, where it was parked until being seized by officers.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Fife Cook was cleared of breaching standards after allegations were made relating to bullying, compromising the impartiality of the council and causing the council to breach a statutory duty.
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
Capt. Draper offered a small Sustenance & Pay for the Boy’s excellent Music, could he rally us upon the Fife.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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
You heard the muffled drums and the fifes that played lowly.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 6, 2017
Mindy Rosenfeld and Ronn McFarlane will perform a concert of Renaissance, baroque and traditional Celtic music on flutes, fifes, harp and bagpipe.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 25, 2013
There was a bang of drums and a shrill of fifes.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
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
A drum corps was organized, if that could be said to be organized in which every member drummed or fifed independently of all others.
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
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 Rafael Sabatini
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
However, he soon sank back on his throne again, and after a little more drumming and fifing, everything reverted to its state of wooden repose.
From The Serapion Brethren, Vol. I. by Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann
In the foreground is the “Portsmouth Fly,” with officers inside, taking their ease, and a number of soldiers occupying a precarious perch on the roof, fifing and drumming, regardless of jolts and lurches.
From The Portsmouth Road and Its Tributaries To-Day and in Days of Old by Charles G. (Charles George) Harper
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 Justin H. (Justin Huntly) McCarthy
On the left flank of the little column I kept very easily in touch because of this same silly drumming and fifing.
From The Little Red Foot by Robert W. (Robert William) Chambers
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.
