pie meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

pie

noun

UK, US /paɪ/ · AU /pɑɪ/

Etymology

From Middle English pye, pie, pey (“baked dish, filled pastry”), possibly attested earlier (c. 1199) in the surname Piehus (“pie-house?”). Further origin uncertain. Relation to Middle English pie, pye (“magpie”) has been suggested due to correspondences between other similar foods and the names of birds (compare haggis (“Scottish dish”) and haggess (“magpie”); and chewet (“meat pie”) and chewet (“chough, jackdaw”); however, the baked dish may instead be named after a creator with the surname Pie, a common name at the time. The surname is ultimately derived from the bird above, and thus from Old French pie, from Latin pīca (“magpie”). If true, then doublet of speight.

10 senses

1A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a…
2Any of various other, non-pastry dishes that maintain…
3A pizza.
4A paper plate covered in cream, shaving foam or custard…
5The whole of a wealth or resource, to be divided in parts.
6An especially badly bowled ball.
7A pie chart.
8Something very easy; a piece of cake.
9The vulva.
10A kilogram of drugs, especially cocaine.

A type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling. (Savory pies are more popular in the UK and sweet pies are more popular in the US, so "pie" without qualification has different connotations in these dialects.)

The family had steak and kidney pie for dinner and cherry pie for dessert.
SATURNINUS: Go fetch them hither to us presently. TITUS: Why, there they are, both baked in that pie, Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred.c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

Any of various other, non-pastry dishes that maintain the general concept of a shell with a filling.

Shepherd's pie is made of mince covered with mashed potato.

Northeastern, US A pizza.

A paper plate covered in cream, shaving foam or custard that is thrown or rubbed in someone’s face for comical purposes, to raise money for charity, or as a form of political protest; a custard pie; a cream pie.

Figuratively The whole of a wealth or resource, to be divided in parts.

It is easier to get along when everyone, more or less, is getting ahead. But when the pie is shrinking, social groups are more likely to turn on each other.2010 December 4, Evan Thomas, “Why It’s Time to Worry”, in Newsweek:

Ball games, Cricket, Games, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports An especially badly bowled ball.

A pie chart.

Pies are best for comparing the components of only one or two totals.1986, Carolyn Sorensen, Henry J. Stock, Department of Education Computer Graphics Guide, page 8:

Informal Something very easy; a piece of cake.

Programmers haven't exactly been wild about certain Microsoft policies — such as the price of the OS/2 developer's kit or the fib about how Microsoft Windows code would be pie to translate to the Presentation Manager.1989, PC Mag, volume 8, number 5, page 91:

Slang The vulva.

"Yeah, take it off!" "SHOW US YOUR PIE!" The brunette opened the catch on her G-string and let the sequinned cloth slip down, teasing them with it.1981, William Kotzwinkle, Jack in the Box:
Yeah, some guys like to eat the old hairy pie. Women, too, or so I've heard.2010, W. A. Moltinghorne, Magnolia Park, page 238:

Slang A kilogram of drugs, especially cocaine.

Did fed time outta town pie flipper / Turn Cristal into a crooked-I sipper1997 January 3, “Can't Nobody Hold Me Down”performed by Sean Combs ft. Mase:
My weed smoke is my lye, a ki of coke is a pie / When I'm lifted I'm high, with new clothes on I'm fly[1998 October 18, “Ebonics”performed by Big L:

1 more example

I love the cutie pies, never the zootie pies1999 July 13, “Discipline”performed by Gang Starr ft. Total:

Derived terms: 230 terms
aloo pie, American as apple pie, American pie, angel pie, apple pie, apple-pie, apple-pie bed, apple-pie order, Australian as a meat pie, banoffee pie, battalia pie, bean pie, black bottom pie, black-bottom pie, blueberry pie, Bob Andy pie, Boston cream pie, bran pie, buko pie, butter pie, by cock and pie, cap-à-pie, cap-a-pie, cherry pie, chess pie, chiffon pie, Chinese pie, choco pie, Christmas pie, Christmas Pie, Christmaspie, cottage pie, cow pie, cowpie, cream pie, Cumberland pie, custard pie, custard-pie, cutie pie, cutie-pie, Devizes pie, Devon pie, dirt pie, easy as pie, eat humble pie, English as apple pie, Eskimo pie, fidget pie, finger in the pie, finger pie, fisherman's pie, flapper pie, fly pie, football pie, frankenpie, fried pie, Frito pie, fry pie, funeral pie, fur pie, gala pie, gamekeeper's pie, grasshopper pie, Grosvenor pie, hair pie, half-pie, hand pie, have one's fingers in many pies, homity pie, honeypie, Hoosier pie, horned pie, hot pie, humble pie, icebox pie, I like pie, impossible pie, Jack Horner pie, Karelian pie, Kate and Sidney pie, Kate and Sydney pie, Key lime pie, lamb pie, lemon meringue pie, like flies on pie, lumber pie, macaroni pie, maggoty-pie, meat pie, mincemeat pie, mince pie, Mississippi mud pie, mom and apple pie, Montgomery pie, moon pie, motherhood and apple pie, mud pie, mud pie argument, nice as pie, pake, party pie, pecan pie, Périgord pie, picnic pie, pie-baking, pie baking, pie bed, pie bird, pieboy, piecake, piecaken, pie car, piecard, pie cart, piece of the pie, pie chart, pie chest, pie chimney, pie-chucker, pie crust, piedish, pie-dish beetle, pie-eater, pie-eyed, pieface, pie-faced, piefight, pie floater, pie fork, pie funnel, pie graph, pie-hole, piehole, pie hole, pie house, pieing, pie in the sky, pie-in-the-sky, pie iron, pieless, pielike, piemaker, piemaking, pieman, pie menu, pie off, pie pan, pieplant, pie plant, pie plate, pie rule, pie safe, pie server, pieshop, pie supper, piet, pie thrower, pie tin, pie vent, pie wagon, pie whistle, pie-wipe, piewoman, pigeon-pie, pigeon pie, pity pie, pizza pie, plum pie, poacher's pie, pork pie, pork pie hat, porky pie, possum pie, pot pie, pot-pie, potpie, pudding pie, pumpion pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin pie spice, pyet, pyot, Pyrex, rappie pie, refrigerator pie, resurrection pie, Scotch pie, sea-pie, share of the pie, shepherdess pie, shepherdless pie, shepherds pie, shepherd's pie, shoo-fly pie, shoofly pie, shred pie, slice of the pie, slice the pie, snake and pygmy pie, Snickers pie, squab pie, stand pie, stargazey pie, stargazy pie, steak and kidney pie, Strasbourg pie, Strasburg pie, sugar cream pie, sugarpie, sugar pie, sweet as pie, sweetie pie, tadago-pie, tamale pie, tin roof pie, tomato pie, transparent pie, treepie, Twelfth Night pie, twelfth pie, umble pie, vinegar pie, Washington pie, water pie, white pie, who ate all the pies, whoopee pie, whoopie pie, Woolton pie, Yorkshire pie
Related terms: pastie, pasty

pie

verb

Etymology

To hit in the face with a pie, either for comic effect or as a means of protest (see also pieing).

I'd like to see someone pie the chairman of the board.

To go around (a corner) in a guarded manner.

UK, Often, Slang, Followed by off To ignore (someone).

Some of my friends drop everyone out as soon as they get a girlfriend, and they alienate people. Or they stop going out to the gym and doing things they love because they're all about the other person. When you do that you're sacrificing yourself and you will be left with nothing if you split up. You'll have to start again and get back in contact with all your mates you've pied off. Shame.2017, Marcel Somerville, Dr Marcel's Little Book of Big Love: Your Guide to Finding Love, the Island Way, London: Blink Publishing, →ISBN, page 50:
just my luck been put in a presentation group at uni with a guy I pied on tinder last week HAHA gud2018 September 18, @_kirstenanna, Twitter, archived from the original on 27 Jan 2024:

pie

noun

Etymology From Middle English pye, from Old French pie, from Latin pīca, feminine of pīcus (“woodpecker”). Doublet of pica and speight.

Obsolete Magpie.

Joe looked as if he thought this talk was like the chattering of a pie.1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Which the Genteel Reader is recommended to Skip, Low Persons being here Introduced”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 174:

Derived terms: paradise pie, piebald, pied, sea pie

pie

noun

Etymology From Hindi पाई (pāī, “low-denomination coin”), from Sanskrit पादिका (pādikā, “foot, shoe”), from पाद (pāda, “foot, base, quarter”) + -इक (-ika, “-ic: forming adjectives”).

Historical A former low-denomination coin of northern India.

I gave him all the money in my possession, Rs.9.8.5. – nine rupees, eight annas, and five pie – for I always keep small change as bakshish when I am in camp.1888, Rudyard Kipling, “The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes”, in The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society, published 2005, page 117:

Coordinate terms: paisa (3 pies), anna (12 pies), rupee (192 pies)

pie

noun

Etymology From Hindi पाहि (pāhi, “migrant farmer, passer-through”), from Sanskrit पार्श्व (pārśva, “side, vicinity”).

Biology, Natural sciences, Zoology Abbreviation, Ellipsis Ellipsis of pie-dog (“an Indian breed, a stray dog in Indian contexts”).

pie

noun

Etymology From Spanish pie (“foot, Spanish foot”). Doublet of foot, pes, and pous.

Historical A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 27.9 cm.

Coordinate terms: punto (1⁄1728 pie), linea (1⁄144 pie), pulgada (1⁄12 pie), coto (3⁄8 pie), sesma (1⁄2 pie), palmo (3⁄4 pie), codo (1+1⁄2 pies), vara (3 pies), paso (5 pies), estado, braza, or toesa (6 pies), estadal (12 pies), cordel (150 pies), milla (5,000 pies), legua (15,000 pies)

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.