fife
noun
ˈfīf 
: a small transverse flute with six to eight finger holes and usually no keys
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web She had been abducted while walking home from practice with her school’s fife-and-drum team in 1968. 
New York Times, 13 June 2021 American fife and drum blues has been popular in the hill country of Mississippi and Tennessee for decades. Lici Beveridge, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2021 Steven Taskovics, 58, a re-enactor from Framingham, Mass., plays the fife in the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums, a group that marches in costume and performs Revolutionary War-era music. Cameron Mcwhirter, WSJ, 1 Apr. 2021 Hill Country Blues guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill came from a musical family and struck out on her own after many years performing in north Mississippi fife and drum bands. Lici Beveridge, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2021 Calvin Jackson was an innovator, known for incorporating fife and drum blues as well as funk and soul into hill country blues for a musical signature that was his own. Lici Beveridge, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2021 The fife and drum corps is missing in action (because blowing air is a no-no), but new walking tours have been introduced to keep guests warm outside by moving around. Vicky Hallett, Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2020 An original member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time string band from North Carolina, Dom Flemons is a singer-songwriter who also plays the banjo, fife, guitar, harmonica, percussion, quills, rhythm bones... Country Living Staff, Country Living, 12 June 2020 For an unmarked fife like yours, an auction sale might return $100-$150. oregonlive, 3 Jan. 2020 See More
New York Times, 13 June 2021 American fife and drum blues has been popular in the hill country of Mississippi and Tennessee for decades. Lici Beveridge, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2021 Steven Taskovics, 58, a re-enactor from Framingham, Mass., plays the fife in the Middlesex County Volunteers Fifes & Drums, a group that marches in costume and performs Revolutionary War-era music. Cameron Mcwhirter, WSJ, 1 Apr. 2021 Hill Country Blues guitarist Jessie Mae Hemphill came from a musical family and struck out on her own after many years performing in north Mississippi fife and drum bands. Lici Beveridge, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2021 Calvin Jackson was an innovator, known for incorporating fife and drum blues as well as funk and soul into hill country blues for a musical signature that was his own. Lici Beveridge, USA Today, 17 Feb. 2021 The fife and drum corps is missing in action (because blowing air is a no-no), but new walking tours have been introduced to keep guests warm outside by moving around. Vicky Hallett, Washington Post, 23 Nov. 2020 An original member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, an old-time string band from North Carolina, Dom Flemons is a singer-songwriter who also plays the banjo, fife, guitar, harmonica, percussion, quills, rhythm bones... Country Living Staff, Country Living, 12 June 2020 For an unmarked fife like yours, an auction sale might return $100-$150. oregonlive, 3 Jan. 2020 See More Word History
Etymology
German Pfeife pipe, fife, from Old High German pfīfa, from Vulgar Latin *pipa pipe — more at pipe
First Known Use
1539, in the meaning defined above
Phrases Containing fife
Kids Definition
fife
noun
ˈfīf
: a small musical instrument like a flute that produces a shrill sound
Geographical Definition
Fife
geographical name
ˈfīf
variants or Fifeshire
ˈfīf-ˌshir
-shər
administrative area of eastern Scotland between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth area 509 square miles (1319 square kilometers), population 365,198