pie

1 of 4

noun (1)

ˈpī 

plural pies

1

a

: a dessert consisting of a filling (as of fruit or custard) in a pastry shell or topped with pastry or both

an apple pie

a slice of pumpkin pie

… desserts include lots of berry pies, butter pecan ice cream pies with a hot caramel topping, flummeries, and crisps.

—Judith and Evan Jones

b

: a meat dish baked with biscuit or pastry crust

a chicken pie

compare potpie

2

: pizza

The pizzeria earned its VPN (that's Vera Pizza Napoletana) status … for its authentic Neapolitan pies which are baked in a wood-fired oven imported from Italy.

—Katie Jackson

3

a

: affair, business

… she wanted her finger … in every possible social pie …

—Mary Deasy

b

: a whole regarded as divisible into shares

… giving the less fortunate … a larger share of the economic pie.

—R. M. Hutchins

pie

2 of 4

verb

pied; pieing; pies

transitive verb

informal

: to throw a pie at (someone) : to hit (someone) especially in the face with a pie

Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope was the latest target of a group of pie-wielding activists. … Pope was pied because he has gone against the interests of Sierra Club founder John Muir and the environment in his stance on such issues as the Headwaters Forest deal, the group said in a statement.

—Associated Press

One of his first duties as cub master was to be "pied" by those cub scouts who sold the most popcorn during a fundraiser to help pay for summer camp.

—Carol Malley

pie

3 of 4

noun (2)

plural pies

: magpie

pie

4 of 4

noun (3)

less common spelling of pi

1

: type that is spilled or mixed

2

: a pi character or matrix

Examples of pie in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Hollywood is just one small component of the global pie. —Brian Welk, IndieWire, 18 Mar. 2026

But OpenClaw also creates a fresh, new playing field where competitors could try to gain market share over Nvidia, which is not content to just enjoy a growing pie. —Reed Albergotti, semafor.com, 18 Mar. 2026

Verb

Plus, Unwell County Fair-goers got two free drink tickets, a meal ticket (Friday's was a taco, chips and queso from Torchy’s) and the opportunity to watch handsome, shirtless men get pied by women or submerged in a dunk tank. —Deborah Sengupta Stith, Austin American Statesman, 17 Mar. 2026

The full-service firm works on projects across the country, from a Newton lake house to an Upper East Side pied-à-terre, and is particularly skilled at crafting family homes that are stylish and highly functional. —Elizabeth Stamp, Architectural Digest, 10 Feb. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Middle English

Verb

derivative of pie entry 1

Noun (2)

Middle English, from Anglo-French, from Latin pica; akin to Latin picus woodpecker, Old High German speh

First Known Use

Noun (1)

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b

Verb

1977, in the meaning defined above

Noun (2)

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing pie

• a piece/slice/share of the pie
• apple-pie
• (as) American as apple pie
• (as) easy as pie
• Boston cream pie
• cap-a-pie
• chess pie
• cottage pie
• cow pie
• cutie-pie
• eat humble pie
• have a finger in a/the/every pie
• humble pie
• in apple-pie order
• Key lime pie
• mud pie
• pie chart
• pie-eyed
• pie-faced
• pie hole
• pie in the sky
• pie safe
• pumpkin pie spice
• shepherd's pie
• shoofly pie
• shut your pie hole
• sweetie pie
• Washington pie
• whoopee pie
• whoopie pie

Rhymes for pie

• ai
• aye
• bae
• bi
• buy
• by
• bye
• chai
• chi
• cry
• die
• dry

Kids Definition

pie

noun

ˈpī

: a dish consisting of a pastry crust and a filling (as of fruit or meat)