pipe cleaner

noun

a short length of twisted flexible wires covered with tufted fabric, used to clean the stem of a smoker's pipe and for various handicrafts.

Words nearby pipe cleaner

pipal, pipe, pipe batten, pipe bomb, pipe clay, pipe cleaner, pipe cutter, pipe down, pipe dream, pipe fitter, pipe fitting

Origin of pipe cleaner

First recorded in 1865–70

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for pipe cleaner

The first pipe-cleaner man was shinnying up the power cable.
Makers|Cory Doctorow
A pipe-cleaner man happened upon a shard after a moment and hugged it to his chest, then toddled back into the box with it.
Makers|Cory Doctorow
Improvising tweezers from a pipe-cleaner, he picked this up and looked at it.
Murder in the Gunroom|Henry Beam Piper

British Dictionary definitions for pipe cleaner

pipe cleaner

noun

a short length of thin wires twisted so as to hold tiny tufts of yarn: used to clean the stem of a tobacco pipe

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