Meaning
Very hot, especially of freshly cooked food or drink served steaming. It is used almost exclusively of things that are meant to be hot, not of weather or tempers. Neutral, slightly warm or appetizing register, common in menus and food writing. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The phrase derives from the old verb 'pipe', meaning to make a whistling or shrill sound: food hot enough to sizzle and hiss as steam escapes was said to 'pipe'. Folk theories involving bagpipes or dishes 'piped aboard' ships are not supported. The Phrase Finder traces the earliest citation to Chaucer's The Miller's Tale (circa 1390), 'wafres pipyng hoot out of the glede', with the modern spelling appearing in Philemon Holland's 1601 translation of Pliny, describing beans cast 'piping hot into sharp vineger'. Dictionary.com agrees on a late-1300s origin and the hissing-sound allusion.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- hot enough to pipe (archaic)
Usage Examples
- The pies arrived piping hot, with steam pouring out of the vents in the crust.
- She likes her tea piping hot, so she rinses the pot with boiling water first.
- A piping hot bowl of soup was exactly what the cold hike had called for.