pipe the eye
English
editEtymology
editA metaphor alluding to the boatswain's pipe, which calls to duty.
Verb
editpipe 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
editTranslations
editReferences
edit- John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary