fife
noun
a high-pitched transverse flute used commonly in military and marching musical groups.
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fife
1 American
[fahyf]
/ faɪf /
noun
verb (used with or without object)
-
fifes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
fifed,
past participle, past
-
fifing
present participle
Fife
2
American
[fahyf]
/ faɪf /
noun
-
Also called Fifeshire. a historic county in E Scotland.
-
a region in E Scotland. 504 sq. mi. (1,305 sq. km).
fife
1
British
/ faɪf /
noun
verb
Fife
2
British
/ faɪf /
noun
Fife
3
British
/ faɪf /
noun
fife
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
fifesimple
-
fifessimple
-
have fifedperfect
-
has fifedperfect
-
am fifingprogressive
-
are fifingprogressive
-
is fifingprogressive
-
have been fifingperfect progressive
-
has been fifingperfect progressive
Past
-
fifedsimple
-
had fifedperfect
-
was fifingprogressive
-
were fifingprogressive
-
had been fifingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of fife
1540–50; < German Pfeife pipe 1
Explanation
A fife is a musical instrument that looks like a very small flute. Fifes are usually made of wood, rather than metal, and are common in military marching bands. A fife is much more high-pitched than a flute—it's also louder and more shrill sounding. It was a popular instrument in some of the folk music in medieval Europe, and especially during the Colonial period in America, when it was played more than violins or pianos. Because it's so portable and relatively loud for its size, the fife became widely used in military and marching bands starting during the Renaissance period.
Vocabulary lists containing fife
Music to My Ears: Instrumental Vocab
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Musical Instruments - Introductory
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Musical Instruments - Middle School
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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.
See Examples For:
“Death to My Hometown” carried a faint whiff of Revolutionary War cosplay as several E Streeters temporarily became a miniature fife and drum corps.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 26, 2024
Items up for big include a private fife lesson with the resident fifer on the premises, table linens, getaways to other historically-minded spots, toy soldiers, golf packages, china, books — well, you get the idea.
From Washington Times ● Feb. 20, 2022
A fife and drum corps perform at King and Market streets before the parade passes through.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 30, 2021
There was a “Spirit of ’76”—three men with fife and drum.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 2020
I suppose I wanted to bring her back to fife.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
Fife Council said it was awaiting "formal confirmation" from an investigation into the incident, but an initial report did identify "improperly disposed batteries within the waste stream" as a possible cause.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
The vehicle was driven a short distance from being picked up in Rosyth, Fife, to the home of Murrell's mother in Dunfermline, where it was parked until being seized by officers.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
Fife Cook said the hearing was a "draconian procedure" and suggested council time and resources could be better used in providing essential services.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
The committee resolved Fife Cook had failed to treat others with courtesy and respect and had brought the council into disrepute.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
Capt. Draper offered a small Sustenance & Pay for the Boy’s excellent Music, could he rally us upon the Fife.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
Then the “sounds of Nazi marches with fifes and drums came through the radio.”
From Slate ● Jan. 26, 2025
His supporters, some dressed as American Revolution-era patriots and playing fifes, were thrilled by Ramaswamy’s turn in the spotlight Wednesday night.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2023
Look for fifes and drums, decorated automobiles, tractor-pulled floats, marching dance teams and pageant winners.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 29, 2022
You heard the muffled drums and the fifes that played lowly.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 6, 2017
Drums beat and fifes blew and beneath everything was the steady clockwork blast of the British cannons firing at the troops stationed north of us.
From "Chains" by Laurie Halse Anderson
Unlike the buccaneers, who had fired high to cripple their enemies above decks, the French fifed low to smash the hull of their assailant.
From Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini
He let himself be drummed and fifed home by the town militia towards evening.
From Flower, Fruit, and Thorn Pieces; or, the Wedded Life, Death, and Marriage of Firmian Stanislaus Siebenkaes, Parish Advocate in the Burgh of Kuhschnappel. by Jean Paul
So I was, and I voted for him, drummed for him, fifed and blowed; that was no reason for my thinking him the best man we had for the office.
From The Humors of Falconbridge A Collection of Humorous and Every Day Scenes by Falconbridge
A drum corps was organized, if that could be said to be organized in which every member drummed or fifed independently of all others.
The city fathers have decked out some of Boston's sons in Revolutionary costumes and sent them roaming through the streets fifing and drumming.
From Time Magazine Archive
It was very quiet here, save for the occasional jangle of the cow-bells and the far-off fifing of frogs in the marsh below.
From The Rivet in Grandfather's Neck A Comedy of Limitations by James Branch Cabell
Now they had prepared a little fleet to pass over to the Fourth of July celebration, which some queer drumming and fifing, from, the opposite bank, had announced to be "on hand."
From At Home And Abroad Or, Things And Thoughts In America and Europe by Arthur B. Fuller
Now they had prepared a little fleet to pass over to the Fourth of July celebration, which some queer drumming and fifing, from the opposite bank, had announced to be "on hand."
From Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 by Margaret Fuller
Keeping step to Luther Blanchard’s fifing of the White Cockade, and Francis Barker’s drumming, they marched past the men from Concord and formed on their left.
From Daughters of the Revolution and Their Times 1769 - 1776 A Historical Romance by Charles Carleton Coffin
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.
