Recent Examples on the WebAt that point, interest rates will skyrocket and consumers and businesses that have been relying on debt to cope with the Fed’s dollar destruction will find the piper at their doors, demanding to be paid.—Ron Paul, Orange County Register, 5 Mar. 2024 After years of lavish spending, the piper, and the writers and the actors, must be paid.—Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 11 Jan. 2024 But more recently demand grown louder than a piper on the loch.—Michelle Gross, Robb Report, 7 Dec. 2023 This asymmetrical sofa is available in an array of fabrics, including velvet, slub velvet, chenille and piper weave.—Good Housekeeping, 5 Sep. 2023 Dennis Vincent, stood a few feet from the Boston Massacre seal and filmed the piper on a recent Wednesday afternoon.—Daniel Kool, BostonGlobe.com, 19 Aug. 2023 Queen Elizabeth's personal piper will also play a lament in her honor.—Jen Juneau, Peoplemag, 15 Sep. 2022 The sovereign’s piper is set to play a lament during Queen Elizabeth II’s committal service at St. George’s Chapel.—Joanna Sugden, WSJ, 19 Sep. 2022 Queen Elizabeth's personal piper also played a lament in her honor.—Stephanie Wenger, Peoplemag, 19 Sep. 2022
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'piper.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of piper was
before the 12th century
: a very large genus (the type of the family Piperaceae) of tropical plants that comprise the true peppers, are mostly climbing jointed shrubs with pulpy fruit, and include the betel (P. betle), kava (P. methysticum), and matico (P. angustifolium) and the sources of cubebs (from P. cubeba) and black and white pepper (from P. nigrum)
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