piefe

Meaning

1. to smoke a pipe
2. to wheeze (breathe loudly and with trouble)
3. to sulk, be grumpy
4. to whistle or play a wind instrument (but this sense is usual in Moselle Franconian)

Etymology / origin

From northern Old High German *pīfan, from Proto-West Germanic *pīpan. The sense “to sulk” is not in the Rheinisches Wörterbuch (vol. 6 = 1944) and would thus seem to be fairly young. It can be derived from “to wheeze”, perhaps also from the notion of someone sulkily whiffing away on their pipe. Moreover the RhWb mentions the expression hüle en piefe for wailing, lamenting.

Related words

Sources

No citations have been attached yet.