Pie Meaning

/paɪ/
A2

Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

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nounA type of pastry that consists of an outer crust and a filling. (Savory pies are more popular in the UK and sweet pies are more popular in the US, so "pie" without qualification has different connotations in these dialects.)

nounAny of various other, non-pastry dishes that maintain the general concept of a shell with a filling.

Have you ever eaten a banana pie?
You want to have a finger in every pie, don't you?
CEFR Practice Quiz
For dessert, my grandmother baked a delicious apple ____ for the family.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She baked an apple ____ from scratch using fruit picked from the tree in the garden.

From Middle English pye, pie, pey (“baked dish, filled pastry”), possibly attested earlier (c. 1199) in the surname Piehus (“pie-house?”). Further origin uncertain. Relation to Middle English pie, pye (“magpie”) has been suggested due to correspondences between other similar foods and the names of birds (compare haggis (“Scottish dish”) and haggess (“magpie”); and chewet (“meat pie”) and chewet (“chough, jackdaw”); however, the baked dish may instead be named after a creator with the surname Pie, a common name at the time. The surname is ultimately derived from the bird above, and thus from Old French pie, from Latin pīca (“magpie”). If true, then doublet of speight.

"SATURNINUS: Go fetch them hither to us presently. TITUS: Why, there they are, both baked in that pie, Whereof their mother daintily hath fed, Eating the flesh that she herself hath bred." — c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:
"It is easier to get along when everyone, more or less, is getting ahead. But when the pie is shrinking, social groups are more likely to turn on each other." — 2010 December 4, Evan Thomas, “Why It’s Time to Worry”, in Newsweek:
"Pies are best for comparing the components of only one or two totals." — 1986, Carolyn Sorensen, Henry J. Stock, Department of Education Computer Graphics Guide, page 8:
"Programmers haven't exactly been wild about certain Microsoft policies — such as the price of the OS/2 developer's kit or the fib about how Microsoft Windows code would be pie to translate to the Presentation Manager." — 1989, PC Mag, volume 8, number 5, page 91:
""Yeah, take it off!" "SHOW US YOUR PIE!" The brunette opened the catch on her G-string and let the sequinned cloth slip down, teasing them with it." — 1981, William Kotzwinkle, Jack in the Box:

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CEFR Practice Quiz
For dessert, my grandmother baked a delicious apple ____ for the family.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She baked an apple ____ from scratch using fruit picked from the tree in the garden.

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