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pigheaded
Pied Piper
Piper played his flute again and led away all the town's children too. **2** someone that other people like or admire, who attracts many followers
**, pie-'eyed** *adj infml, usually humor* drunk
**pier** /pɪər/ *n* **1** a bridgelike structure of wood, metal etc, built out into the sea at places where people go for holidays, with small buildings on it where people can eat and amuse themselves: *Brighton pier* | *a variety show on the end of the pier* ➞ compare BOARDWALK **2** a similar structure at which boats can stop to take in or land their passengers or goods, usually larger than a JETTY **3** a thick post of stone, wood, metal etc, especially as used to support a bridge or the roof of a high building
**pierce** /pɪrs/pɪʳs/ *v* [**T**] *rather fml* **1** to make a hole in or through (something) with a point: *The nurse pierced the skin covering his vein with the syringe and injected the medicine.* | *Many women have got pierced ears.* (=holes made in their ears for EARRINGS) | (*fig.*) *He couldn't pierce* (=find a way through) *her unfriendly manner.* **2** (of light, sound, pain etc) to be suddenly seen, heard, or felt in or through (someone or something): *The first shafts of sunlight pierced the gloom.* | *A sudden scream pierced the silence.* ➞ compare PENETRATE
**pierc-ing¹** /'pɪəsɪŋ||'pɪər-/ *adj* **1** (of wind) very strong and cold; BITING **2** (of sound) very sharp and clear, especially in an unpleasant way: *A piercing cry rang out across the moor.* | *a very piercing voice* **3** going straight to the centre or the main point; PENETRATING: *a piercing look/question* | *piercing blue eyes* —**ly** *adv*
**piercing²** *n* [**C,U**] a hole made through part of your body so that you can put jewellery there, or the process of making these holes
**Pierre, D.B.C.** /pi'eər, pjɛər/ (1961-) an Australian writer who lived in Mexico when he was a child and who won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003 for his NOVEL *Vernon God Little*
**Pier·rot** /'pɪərəʊ/ a character from old French PANTOMIME who has a sad, white face, and wears loose, white clothes with a stiff circular collar
**Piers Plow·man** /,piəz ˈplaʊmən||ˌpiərz-/ a religious poem written in MIDDLE ENGLISH by William Langland (?1332-?1400)
**pi-e-ty** /'paɪəti/ also **piousness** *n* [**U**] *fml* the showing and feeling of deep respect for God and religion ➞ opposite **impiety**; see also **PIOUS**
**pie-zo·e·lec·tric** /ˌpi:zəʊ-ɪˈlektrk, ˌpi:tsəʊ-||ˌpi,ɛrzoʊ-/ *adj* worked by electricity produced by pressure on a small piece of a certain type of stone (CRYSTAL): *a piezoelectric cigarette lighter*
**pif-fle** /'pɪfl/ *n* [**U**] *BrE infml, old-fash* foolish talk; nonsense
**pif-fling** /'pɪflɪŋ/ *adj BrE infml* useless; meaningless; TRIVIAL: *some piffling excuse or other*
**pig¹** /pɪg/ *n* **1** also **hog AmE** — a fat short-legged animal with a usually curly tail and thick skin with short stiff hairs, often kept on farms for its meat. Pigs are usually thought to be GREEDY, dirty, and noisy. ➞ see also GUINEA PIG; see MEAT (USAGE) **2** *infml derog* **a)** an unpleasant person, especially one who eats too much, behaves in an offensive way, or refuses to consider others: *You greedy pig.* | *He made a (real) pig of himself at the restaurant.* **b)** something difficult or nasty: *This passage is a real pig to translate.* **3** *derog slang* a policeman **4** a **pig in a poke** *infml* something one has bought without seeing or examining it, and that one may then find
to be worthless **5** make a **pig's ear of** *infml, especially BrE* to do something awkwardly or wrongly: *I'd been practising the speech for days, but I made a real pig's ear of it anyway.* **6** **Pigs might fly** | **If pigs could fly we could shoot for bacon!** *especially humor* What you have just said is not possible: '*The management might offer us a decent pay rise.' 'Pigs might fly!*' **7** **This little piggy went to market** the first line of an old poem for children, said while counting the child's toes
**pig²** *v* **-gg-** [**I;T**] to eat (food) greedily (GREEDY): *He's pigged all the cake.* | *We pigged ourselves on/with ice cream and jelly.*
**pig out** *phr v* **[**I**]** (*on*) *slang, especially AmE* to eat food greedily (GREEDY) and in large amounts; gorge oneself (GORGE): *We really pigged out last night. I feel sick!*
**pi·geon** /'pɪdʒən/ *n pl.* **pigeons** or **pigeon** **1** [**C**] a fairly large grey short-legged bird
**CULTURAL NOTE**
In the UK, people used to think of Trafalgar Square in London as a place where you could go to feed the pigeons, and tourists used to have photographs taken with pigeons sitting on their shoulders.
But people are not allowed to feed them any more, and most of the pigeons have been removed. There is also a STEREOTYPE about people from the North of England who keep pigeons and race them, to see which pigeon returns home first. Pigeons are generally disliked in both the US and the UK, however, because large numbers of them live in towns, leaving their DROPPINGS (=waste matter) everywhere. Some people call them 'flying RATS'.
**2** [**S**] *BrE infml* someone's responsibility or affair: *It's not my pigeon* – *someone else can deal with it.* ➞ see also CARRIER PIGEON, CLAY PIGEON, **put/set the cat among the pigeons** (CAT)
**,pigeon-'chested** /|'.. ,../ *adj* (of a person) having a chest that is narrow and sticks out unnaturally
**pi·geon·hole¹** /'pɪdʒənhaʊl/ *n* **1** any of a set of boxlike divisions in a frame, e.g. on a wall or on top of a desk, for putting especially papers or letters in **2** a neat division (of ideas, feelings etc) which separates things too simply: *You shouldn't put people in pigeonholes.*
**pigeonhole²** *v* [**T**] **1** to put aside and keep for possible future use or attention; SHELVE: *That's a good idea, but we'll have to pigeonhole it until we know whether we can afford it.* **2** to put into the proper class or group: *It's the sort of job you can't pigeonhole* – *he seems to do different things every week.*
**'pigeon-toed** *adj* (of a person) having the feet pointing inwards
**pig·ge·ry** /'pɪgəri/ *n* **1** [**C**] a pig farm **2** [**C**] a PIGSTY or a large building for pigs **3** [**U**] *derog* the behaviour of a PIG: *the supreme example of male chauvinist piggery*
**pig·gish** /'pɪgɪʃ/ *adj derog* (of a person) like a pig, especially in being dirty or eating too much —**ly** *adv* —**ness** *n* [**U**]
**Pig·gott, Les·ter** /'pɪgət, 'lestər/ (1935-) a British JOCKEY (=someone who rides horses in races) who is considered to be one of the best ever. He was put in prison in 1987 for not paying his taxes.
**pig·gy¹** /'pɪgi/ *n infml* **1** (used especially by or to children) a (little) pig **2 piggy in the middle** *especially BrE* someone who is caught between two opposing sides but is unable to influence either of them (from the ball game in which one person tries to catch the ball as it is thrown between two others)
**piggy²** *adj infml derog* **1** (especially of a child) GREEDY **2** like a pig: *little piggy eyes*
**Piggy** a character in the book LORD OF THE FLIES by William GOLDING, about a group of boys who are on a small island and cannot escape. Piggy is fat and wears glasses, and the other boys treat him cruelly, and finally kill him.
**pig·gy·back** /'pɪgibæk/ *n* a ride on someone else's back or shoulders, especially given to a child: *Give me a piggyback!*
—**piggyback** *adv*
**pig·gy·bank** /'pɪgibæŋk/ *n* a small container, often in the shape of a pig, used by children for saving coins
**pig·head·ed** /pɪg'hedɪd/ *adj derog* determinedly holding to an opinion or course of action in spite of argument, reason etc; STUBBORN —**ly** *adv* —**ness** *n* [**U**]