hornpipe
Americannoun
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an English folk clarinet having one ox horn concealing the reed and another forming the bell.
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a lively jiglike dance, originally to music played on a hornpipe, performed usually by one person, and traditionally a favorite of sailors.
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a piece of music for or in the style of such a dance.
noun
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an obsolete reed instrument with a mouthpiece made of horn
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an old British solo dance to a hornpipe accompaniment, traditionally performed by sailors
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a piece of music for such a dance
Etymology
Origin of hornpipe
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.
As different groupings of dancers come and go, marking the hornpipe music with some maritime motions, rumpling Baroque grace with hip bumps and air kisses, other dancers pass in front or behind.
From New York Times • Sep. 26, 2021
Photograph: Allstar Prithee, avert thine brain, for this Canadian-Irish production does dance a merry hornpipe upon the very phizog of historical accuracy.
From The Guardian • Jun. 14, 2013
"He was jigging along to the sailors' hornpipe," added Margaret Fowkes, from Coventry.
From The Guardian • Jun. 4, 2012
A regular group — the banjoist and fiddler Don Meade leads the Landmark’s — gathers, and other musicians drop in to learn a new reel, jig, hornpipe or air.
From New York Times • Mar. 15, 2012
“Tant pis, the ceiling is a little low. One brisk hornpipe and we’d all be bashed stupid.”
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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.
