hornpipe

[hawrn-pahyp]

noun

an English folk clarinet having one ox horn concealing the reed and another forming the bell.

a lively jiglike dance, originally to music played on a hornpipe, performed usually by one person, and traditionally a favorite of sailors.

a piece of music for or in the style of such a dance.

Nearby words

Origin of hornpipe

1350–1400; Middle English. See horn, pipe¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for hornpipe

The stage sailor is good to his mother and dances the hornpipe beautifully.
Stage-Land|Jerome K. Jerome
He did a bit of the sailor's hornpipe on that slippery, glistening pavement where the rain fell and froze under electric lights.
My Life|Josiah Flynt
Did you think the whole duty of aspiring man was as simple as a hornpipe?
The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 16 (of 25)|Robert Louis Stevenson
A third mermaid wished that she had been born with legs, in order to learn the hornpipe.
Tales of the Wonder Club|M. Y. Halidom (pseud. Dryasdust)

How would you dress a fowl that it would stand upon a dish as if it was going to dance a hornpipe?
Going To Maynooth|William Carleton

British Dictionary definitions for hornpipe

hornpipe

noun

an obsolete reed instrument with a mouthpiece made of horn

an old British solo dance to a hornpipe accompaniment, traditionally performed by sailors

a piece of music for such a dance

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for hornpipe

hornpipe

c.1400, hornepype, "musical instrument with bell and mouthpiece made of horn," from horn (n.) + pipe (n.1). Later (late 15c.) "dance associated with sailors" (originally performed to music from such an instrument).