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Glite Dictionary
💃 A lively dance 🎶 Dance music 🎵 A reed instrument
hornpipe

hornpipe

8.3
A lively dance tune with a strong repeated rhythm
  • noun
  • /ˈhɔrnˌpaɪp/
translation icon : hornpipe
  • ♪♪ [ Humming "Sailor's Hornpipe" ]

Examples

  • The Sailor's Hornpipe?

    Radio Days (1987)

  • [ "Sailor's Hornpipe" ]

    The Dark Backward (1991)

  • - The Sailor's Hornpipe.

    Radio Days (1987)

  • - The Sailor's Hornpipe.

    Radio Days (1987)

  • Alison plays violin on Fisher's Hornpipe, but not on Slumber My Darling.

    Blog text (20)

  • [ "Sailor's Hornpipe" ]

    The Dark Backward (1991)

  • ♪♪ [ Vocalizing "Sailor's Hornpipe" ]

    The Dark Backward (1991)

  • After dinner, they all sat below in the warm lamplight, singing and stomping to the old reels and hornpipes, as Kittiwake's motion rolled them rhythmically side to side.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • At the festival, the band played a lively hornpipe that got everyone dancing.

  • During the celebration, the performers showcased a traditional hornpipe full of energetic rhythm.

How Lively

tarantella
3 8.9
reel
6 6.1
hornpipe
8.3
waltz
11 2.8
lullaby
  • Baby Talk
49 1.0

Surface Forms

hornpipe singular
hornpipes plural

Etymology

Hornpipe for a piece of music is named after the instrument it comes from: horn ('animal horn') and pipe ('tube you play'). These tunes are lively and made for the hornpipe dance, so a fast, bouncy song is called a hornpipe.