Idiom
pipe the eye
Meaning
To weep.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“She began to pipe her eye when the movie ended.”
“He tried to stay strong, but he started to pipe his eye after reading the sad letter.”
“Though she attempted to maintain a stoic composure before the crowd, she could not help but pipe her eye as the final farewell was spoken.”
Examples
simple
“She began to pipe her eye when the movie ended.”
contextual
“He tried to stay strong, but he started to pipe his eye after reading the sad letter.”
complex
“Though she attempted to maintain a stoic composure before the crowd, she could not help but pipe her eye as the final farewell was spoken.”
Origin
The idiom is a metaphor alluding to the boatswain’s pipe, the high-pitched whistle used by a ship's officer to signal the crew to their various duties. The term draws a comparison between the shrill sound of the maritime instrument and the act of weeping.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated