Carried or transported through pipes, or played music using a pipe instrument; also means to decorate with piping (thin strips of fabric or icing).
From 'pipe,' an Old English word from Latin 'pipa' (a wind instrument). The meaning expanded from musical pipes to any hollow tube for carrying substances.
Before modern plumbing, 'piping' hot food was a signal of quality—it literally meant the pipes or tubes had just delivered steam-hot meals from the kitchen. That's why we still say 'piping hot!'
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