Recent Examples on the WebDennis Vincent, stood a few feet from the Boston Massacre seal and filmed the piper on a recent Wednesday afternoon.—Daniel Kool, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2023 Queen Elizabeth's personal piper will also play a lament in her honor.—Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 15 Sep. 2022 The sovereign’s piper is set to play a lament during Queen Elizabeth II’s committal service at St. George’s Chapel.—Joanna Sugden, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2022 Queen Elizabeth's personal piper also played a lament in her honor.—Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 19 Sep. 2022 Rock out to live music from local bands Big Johnson (1 p.m.) and Grunge DNA (7 p.m.), plus Irish songs by Cleveland piper Jesse Tucker while the kitchen serves corned beef and cabbage, sandwiches and more.—cleveland, 11 Mar. 2022 The Hibernians will march the keg to O'Sheas Irish Pub with a piper escort to continue the festivities.—Gege Reed, The Courier-Journal, 8 Mar. 2022 In one touching tribute, Queen Elizabeth's personal piper will also play a lament in her honor.—Stephanie Petit, Peoplemag, 19 Sep. 2022 Taxpayers scurrying to file before the IRS deadline may well be wondering if there’s another way to pay the piper.—Todd J. Gillman, Dallas News, 13 Apr. 2023 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'piper.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of piper was
before the 12th century
: a very large genus (the type of the family Piperaceae) of tropical plants that comprise the true peppers, are mostly climbing jointed shrubs with pulpy fruit, and include the betel (P. betle), kava (P. methysticum), and matico (P. angustifolium) and the sources of cubebs (from P. cubeba) and black and white pepper (from P. nigrum)
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