pipe the eye

English

Etymology

A metaphor alluding to the boatswain's pipe, which calls to duty.

Verb

pipe the eye (third-person singular simple present pipes the eye, present participle piping the eye, simple past and past participle piped the eye)

1. (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

• pipe one's eye

Translations

to weep (expressions related to a pipe or pipes only) — see also weep

• Finnish: pillittää (fi)

References

• John Camden Hotten (1873) The Slang Dictionary