Tom Piper
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
So the piper is called in the morris dance. The Piper referred to by Drayton seems to have been a sort of jongleur or raconteur of short tales.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Tom Piper” mean?
So the piper is called in the morris dance. The Piper referred to by Drayton seems to have been a sort of jongleur or raconteur of short tales.
Is “Tom Piper” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.