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• piper
  piper

  noun

  a person who plays on a pipe.
• Piper
  Piper

  noun

  John. 1903–92, British artist. An official war artist in World War II, he is known esp for his watercolours of bombed churches and his stained glass in Coventry Cathedral

piper

American  

[pahy-per] / ˈpaɪ pər /

noun

• pipers
  plural

1. a person who plays on a pipe.

2. a bagpiper.

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idioms

1. pay the piper,

   1. to pay the cost of something.

   2. to bear the unfavorable consequences of one's actions or pleasures.

      Someday he'll have to pay the piper for all that gambling.

piper ¹ British  

/ ˈpaɪpə /

noun

1. a person who plays a pipe or bagpipes

2. to bear the cost of an undertaking and control it

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Piper ² British  

/ ˈpaɪpə /

noun

1. John. 1903–92, British artist. An official war artist in World War II, he is known esp for his watercolours of bombed churches and his stained glass in Coventry Cathedral

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piper More Idioms  

1. see call the tune (pay the piper).

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pipers
  plural

Etymology

Origin of piper

before 1000; Middle English; Old English pīpere. See pipe ¹, -er ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

piper Piper pipers

“Not Trad” is overtly Celtic, with a marching melody that could be played by a piper and a thumping drum that seems appropriate for a celebration.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026

A neo-traditionalist and pied piper for the New York downtown set, Keith and his nine lives most recently turned to Instagram after a stroke impaired his ability to speak.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025

So to some degree, it’s a question of when the piper will be paid, not if the piper will be paid.

From Slate ● Nov. 3, 2025

A piper will play the lament Sleep, Dearie, Sleep, which was played at the funeral of the late Queen, which was three years ago this week.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2025

The piper marched up and down the streets and blew his silver flute and cried out, “Come to the candy mountain!”

From "Milkweed" by Jerry Spinelli

In a note on Friday, Piper Sandler analyst Billy Fitzsimmons also cited concerns related to Oracle’s funding of the AI infrastructure build-out.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

Prosecutor Anisa Alrubaie told the court Jerome had been made subject to the stalking prevention order relating to Piper on 21July 2022.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026

LaBaer is executive director of the Biodesign Institute at ASU and director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 21, 2026

Insurers who pick a lenient ratings agency might set themselves up for long-term pain should those deals run into trouble, Piper Sandler insurance analyst Paul Newsome said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

During their time at Auster’s palace, Jason had watched Piper and Hazel spend hours sword fighting—something Piper had never been interested in before.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Serving military personnel, the grandson of British Commander Field Marshal Montgomery and pipers from the Jedburgh Pipe Band marched with the schoolchildren.

From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026

A “spectacular evening” followed which ended with pipers marching around the dinner table, according to the British ambassador to Bahrain, Alastair Long, on Instagram.

From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2024

International pipers dressed in green and yellow marched their way from Bayeux Cathedral to the Great Vigil at the Commonwealth War Grave Commission’s Bayeux War Cemetery.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

Even more people, along with a band of pipers playing “Scotland the Brave,” greeted her when she disembarked at Euston Station.

From New York Times ● Jul. 6, 2023

They thrust their little necks out and kept up a musical whistling, like a tiny troupe of pipers.

From "Charlotte's Web" by E.B. White