fife
/ˈfaɪf/ noun, verb, numeral, proper noun
Forms fifes fifing fifed
- noun A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music
- verb To play this instrument.
- numeral Used instead of five in radio communications, especially NATO and ICAO, to avoid confusion with fire or nine.
- proper noun A traditional county of Scotland succeeded by Fife Region in 1975, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with landward boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire.
- proper noun A council area of Scotland, one of 32 created in 1996.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in McCulloch County, Texas, named after Fife in Scotland.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Goochland County, Virginia, named after the owner of the village site.
- proper noun A city in Pierce County, Washington, possibly named after William J. Fife.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From German Pfeife (“whistle, smoking pipe”). Doublet of pipe.
Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic Fìobha, said to date back to the eponym Fib, one of the seven sons of the legendary Pictish king Cruithne. Possibly related to the Uip attested in the Pictish kings lists, in turn possibly related to the Latin Vepogenus, in which the first element is the Proto-Brythonic predecessor of Welsh gwep (“face”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music. Fife major (Mil.), a noncommissioned officer who superintends the fifers of a regiment.
- verb To play on a fife.
Etymology [F. fifre, OHG. pfifa, LL. pipa pipe, pipare to play on the pipe, fr. L. pipire, pipare, to peep, pip, chirp, as a chiken. See Pipe.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fife”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details