piper
[pahy-per]
- a person who plays on a pipe.
- a bagpiper.
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- pay the piper,
- to pay the cost of something.
- to bear the unfavorable consequences of one's actions or pleasures: Someday he'll have to pay the piper for all that gambling.
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Origin of piper
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for piper
Contemporary Examples
The life Piper longs for, whether with Larry or Alex, might not look much different.
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
Sure, Nancy has the fish-out-of-water thing going on, but that attribute often defines Piper.
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
OITNB has so far neglected to grace Alex with a sibling, but Piper has a brother who has figured prominently.
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
It would not be unreasonable to assume Piper might do the same to Litchfield if given the opportunity.
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
Although her age is never explicitly stated, Nancy is not considerably older than Piper (the real Kerman went to jail at 35).
Orange Is the New Weeds: The Adventures of Jenji Kohan Across the 8th DimensionRich Goldstein, Emily Shire
August 18, 2014
Historical Examples
We weighed at 11.30, and anchored under the Piper Islands an hour after sunset.
The Last VoyageLady (Annie Allnutt) Brassey
He has ridden with them probably, and has had the piper's share of the plunder and whatever else was going.
The BalladistsJohn Geddie
Stop a little, child; Edgar and you will have to pay the piper, you know.
But the yeos (meaning the yeomen) will call out mightily,—'Piper!
Tom Burke Of "Ours", Volume I (of II)Charles James Lever
Lochbuie, like so many other places in Scotland, has its Piper's Cave.
Literary Tours in The Highlands and Islands of ScotlandDaniel Turner Holmes
piper
- a person who plays a pipe or bagpipes
- pay the piper and call the tune to bear the cost of an undertaking and control it
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Piper
- 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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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 piper
n.
Old English pipere, agent noun from pipe (v.). As a kind of fish, from c.1600. Expression pay the piper recorded from 1680s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with piper
piper
see call the tune (pay the piper).
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.