pie

[ pahy ]

/ paɪ /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pie ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a baked food having a filling of fruit, meat, pudding, etc., prepared in a pastry-lined pan or dish and often topped with a pastry crust: apple pie; meat pie.

a layer cake with a filling of custard, cream jelly, or the like: chocolate cream pie.

a total or whole that can be divided: They want a bigger part of the profit pie.

an activity or affair: He has his finger in the political pie too.

pizza.

Nearby words

Idioms

easy as pie, extremely easy or simple.

nice as pie, extremely well-behaved, agreeable, or the like: The children were nice as pie.

pie in the sky,

the illusory prospect of future benefits: Political promises are often pie in the sky.
a state of perfect happiness; utopia: to promise pie in the sky.

Origin of pie

1275–1325; Middle English, of obscure origin

Related formspie·like, adjective

pie

[ pahy ]

/ paɪ /

noun

magpie.

Origin of pie

1200–50; Middle English < Old French < Latin pīca, akin to pīcus woodpecker

pie

[ pahy ]

/ paɪ /

noun, verb (used with object), pied, pie·ing.

pi².

pie

⁴

or pye

[ pahy ]

/ paɪ /

noun

(in England before the Reformation) a book of ecclesiastical rules for finding the particulars of the service for the day.

Origin of pie

⁴

1470–80; translation of Latin pīca pie²; the allusion is obscure; cf. pica¹

pie

⁵

[ pahy ]

/ paɪ /

noun

a former bronze coin of India, the 12th part of an anna.

Compare naya paisa, paisa, pice.

Origin of pie

⁵

First recorded in 1855–60, pie is from the Marathi word pā'ī literally, a fourth

PIE

Proto-Indo-European.

pi

or pie

[ pahy ]

/ paɪ /

noun, plural pies.

printing types mixed together indiscriminately.

any confused mixture; jumble.

verb (used with object), pied, pi·ing.

to reduce (printing types) to a state of confusion.

to jumble.

Origin of pi

First recorded in 1650–60; origin uncertain

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

Examples from the Web for pie

Think one small piece of pie or a half-cup of eggnog, says Zied, will do the trick.
12 Thanksgiving Weight Loss Tips That Actually Work|DailyBurn|November 27, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Another vital way to expand the pie is to collaborate with industry partners.
The Latest in High-Tech Chips||September 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The, um, pie was expanding to be sure, but there were a lot more people angling to get a slice of it.
The Cupcake Boom’s Sugar High Finally Crashes|Daniel Gross|July 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He shifts the lens from overall wealth (how big is the pie) to distribution (how big are the pieces).
How to Think About Economic Inequality After Thomas Piketty|Jedediah Purdy|June 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST

That ate up about $160 of your $1,000—a smaller piece of the pie than last year.
Here’s Where Your Tax Dollars Go|CNBC|April 15, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Pie could have closed his eyes in peace if he had seen his daughter married to so decent a man and so good a joiner as Sleeny.
The Bread-winners|John Hay
Place lattice fashion over the tops of the pie and wash with water and bake in a hot oven for forty-five minutes.
Mrs. Wilson's Cook Book|Mary A. Wilson
To ascertain if the pie is done, lift up with a fork a little of the paste, at one side, and try it low down in the pot.
Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book|Eliza Leslie
A pie is a topographic mark; it shows where government land ends.
Roy Blakeley's Motor Caravan|Percy Keese Fitzhugh
After blinking around for half a day he went down town, and when he came home to supper he was as good-natured as pie.
Witty Pieces by Witty People|Various

British Dictionary definitions for pie

pie

/ (paɪ) /

noun

a baked food consisting of a sweet or savoury filling in a pastry-lined dish, often covered with a pastry crust

have a finger in the pie

to have an interest in or take part in some activity
to meddle or interfere

pie in the sky illusory hope or promise of some future good; false optimism

Word Origin for pie

C14: of obscure origin

noun

an archaic or dialect name for magpie

Word Origin for pie

C13: via Old French from Latin pīca magpie; related to Latin pīcus woodpecker

noun, verb

printing a variant spelling of pi 2

noun

a very small former Indian coin worth one third of a pice

Word Origin for pie

C19: from Hindi pā'ī, from Sanskrit pādikā a fourth

noun

history a book for finding the Church service for any particular day

Word Origin for pie

C15: from Medieval Latin pica almanac; see pica 1

adjective

be pie on NZ informal to be keen on

Word Origin for pie

from Māori pai ana

PI

abbreviation for

Philippine Islands

private investigator

pi

/ (paɪ) /

noun plural pis

the 16th letter in the Greek alphabet (Π, π), a consonant, transliterated as p

maths a transcendental number, fundamental to mathematics, that is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Approximate value: 3.141 592…; symbol: π

Word Origin for pi

C18 (mathematical use): representing the first letter of Greek periphereia periphery

pi

pie

/ (paɪ) /

noun plural pies

a jumbled pile of printer's type

a jumbled mixture

verb pies, piing, pied, pies, pieing or pied (tr)

to spill and mix (set type) indiscriminately

to mix up

Word Origin for pi

C17: of uncertain origin

pi

/ (paɪ) /

adjective

British slang short for pious (def. 2), pious (def. 3)

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 pie

pie

n.1

"pastry," mid-14c. (probably older; piehus "bakery" is attested from late 12c.), from Medieval Latin pie "meat or fish enclosed in pastry" (c.1300), perhaps related to Medieval Latin pia "pie, pastry," also possibly connected with pica "magpie" (see pie (n.2)) on notion of the bird's habit of collecting miscellaneous objects. Figurative of "something to be shared out" by 1967.

According to OED, not known outside English, except Gaelic pighe, which is from English. In the Middle Ages, a pie had many ingredients, a pastry but one. Fruit pies began to appear c.1600. Figurative sense of "something easy" is from 1889. Pie-eyed "drunk" is from 1904. Phrase pie in the sky is 1911, from Joe Hill's Wobbly parody of hymns. Pieman is not attested earlier than the nursery rhyme "Simple Simon" (c.1820). Pie chart is from 1922.

pie

n.2

"magpie," mid-13c. (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French pie (13c.), from Latin pica "magpie" (see magpie). In 16c., a wily pie was a "cunning person."

n.3

also pi, printers' slang for "a mass of type jumbled together" (also pi, pye), 1650s, perhaps from pie (n.1) on notion of a "medley," or pie (n.2); cf. pica (n.1). As a verb from 1870. Related: Pied.

pi

Greek letter, from Hebrew, literally "little mouth." As the name of the mathematical constant, from 1841 in English, used in Latin 1748 by Swiss mathematician Leonhart Euler (1707-1783), as an abbreviation of Greek periphereia "periphery." For the meaning "printer's term for mixed type," see pie (3).

Medicine definitions for pie

pi

[ pī ]

n. pl. pis

The 16th letter of the Greek alphabet.

pI

[ pē′ī′ ]

n.

The pH value for the isoelectric point of a given substance in solution.

Science definitions for pie

pi

[ pī ]

An irrational number that has a numerical value of 3.14159265358979… and is represented by the symbol π. It expresses the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle and appears in many mathematical expressions.

Culture definitions for pie

pi

[ (peye) ]

The irrational number obtained by dividing the length of the diameter of a circle into its circumference. Pi is approximately 3.1416. The sign for pi is π.

Idioms and Phrases with pie

pie

In addition to the idiom beginning with pie

pie in the sky

also see:

apple-pie order
easy as pie
eat crow (humble pie)
finger in the pie
slice of the pie

pie

noun

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED WORDS

Nearby words

Idioms

Origin of pie

pie

noun

Origin of pie

pie

noun, verb (used with object), pied, pie·ing.

pie

or pye

noun

Origin of pie

pie

noun

Origin of pie

PIE

pi

or pie

noun, plural pies.

verb (used with object), pied, pi·ing.

Origin of pi

Examples from the Web for pie

pie

noun

Word Origin for pie

noun

Word Origin for pie

noun, verb

noun

Word Origin for pie

noun

Word Origin for pie

adjective

Word Origin for pie

PI

abbreviation for

pi

noun plural pis

Word Origin for pi

pi

pie

noun plural pies

verb pies, piing, pied, pies, pieing or pied (tr)

Word Origin for pi

pi

adjective

pie

pie

pi

pi

n. pl. pis

pI

n.

pi

pi

pie