pipe the eye
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
A metaphor alluding to the boatswain's pipe, which calls to duty.
Verb[edit]
pipe the eye (third-person singular simple present pipes the eye, present participle piping the eye, simple past and past participle piped the eye)
- (archaic, idiomatic) To weep.
- a. 1845, Thomas Hood, Faithless Sally Brown:
- He first began to eye his pipe, / And then to pipe his eye.
Alternative forms[edit]
Translations[edit]
References[edit]
- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary