pie

Definition of pie

24 senses · 4 parts of speech · etymology included

noun

(countable, uncountable)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.”

See all 24 definitions

noun

(countable, uncountable)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.”
(countable, uncountable)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, countable, uncountable)A pizza.
(countable, uncountable)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.
(countable, figuratively, uncountable)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.”
(countable, uncountable)An especially badly bowled ball.
(countable, uncountable)A pie chart.

“Pies are best for comparing the components of only one or two totals.”
(countable, informal, uncountable)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.”
(countable, slang, uncountable)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.”
“Yeah, some guys like to eat the old hairy pie. Women, too, or so I've heard.”
(countable, slang, uncountable)A kilogram of drugs, especially cocaine.

“Did fed time outta town pie flipper / Turn Cristal into a crooked-I sipper”
“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”
“I love the cutie pies, never the zootie pies”
(obsolete)Magpie.

“Joe looked as if he thought this talk was like the chattering of a pie.”
(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.”
(abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis)Ellipsis of pie-dog (“an Indian breed, a stray dog in Indian contexts”).
(historical)A traditional Spanish unit of length, equivalent to about 27.9 cm.
(alt-of, alternative)Alternative form of pi (“metal type that has been spilled, mixed together, or disordered”).
(abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of public-interest entity.

verb

(transitive)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.”
(transitive)To go around (a corner) in a guarded manner.
(UK, often, slang, transitive)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.”
“just my luck been put in a presentation group at uni with a guy I pied on tinder last week HAHA gud”
(alt-of, alternative, transitive)Alternative form of pi (“to spill or mix printing type”).

“The door of the [printing] shop was shattered. He went in. The presses were broken. The type pied.”

name

(abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, usually)Initialism of Proto-Indo-European.
(Singapore, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism)Initialism of Pan Island Expressway.
(abbreviation, alt-of, historical, initialism)Initialism of Paedophile Information Exchange.

adj

(abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, not-comparable, usually)Initialism of Proto-Indo-European.

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

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”)…

See full 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.

Anagrams of pie

5 plays · some not in Scrabble

Words you can make from pie

2 playable · top: PE (4 pts)

Best play pe 4 points

2-letter words

1 word

PI 4 pts

Hooks

3 extensions · 3 back

A single letter you can add to pie to make another valid word.