pipe the eye
To weep.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“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.”
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.
- 01
an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth
compensation for injury caused by a person, in the form of inflicting of an identical injury on that person.
- 02
apple of someone's eye
The object of somebody's affections; a person (or sometimes a thing) that someone strongly prefers; a favorite, a loved one.
- 03
blink of an eye
A moment (a very short period of time).
- 04
camel through the eye of a needle
Hyperbole to illustrate something that is impossible to do or to make happen.
- 05
catch someone's eye
To capture someone's attention.
- 06
catch the eye
To attract the attention
- 07
close one eye
to look the other way, to deliberately ignore or overlook (a mistake or transgression).
- 08
dry eye
An eye which is not crying, i.e. someone emotionally unmoved.
Last updated August 10, 2026