What does Fife mean?

Definitions for Fife
faɪffife

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Fife.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. fifenoun

    a small high-pitched flute similar to a piccolo; has a shrill tone and is used chiefly to accompany drums in a marching band

Wiktionary

  1. fifenoun

    A small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music

  2. Fifenoun

    A traditional county of Scotland now a Unitary Authority, situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with landward boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Fifenoun

    A pipe blown to the drum; military wind-musick.

    Etymology: fifre, French.

    Farewell the plumed troops, and the big war
    That make ambition virtue! oh farewell!
    Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump,
    The spirit-stirring drum, th’ ear-piercing fife. William Shakespeare, Othello.

    Thus the gay victim, with fresh garlands crown’d,
    Pleas’d with the sacred fife’s enlivening sound,
    Through gazing crowds in solemn state proceeds. Phillips.

Wikipedia

  1. Fife

    Fife (, Scottish English: [fɐi̯f]; Scottish Gaelic: Fìobha, IPA: [fiːvə]; Scots: Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i.e. the historic counties of Perthshire and Kinross-shire) and Clackmannanshire. By custom it is widely held to have been one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. In older documents the county was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire. Fife is Scotland's third largest local authority area by population. It has a resident population of just under 367,000, over a third of whom live in the three principal towns, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. The historic town of St Andrews is located on the northeast coast of Fife. It is well known for the University of St Andrews, the most ancient university of Scotland and one of the oldest universities in the world. From the 15th century it was the metropolis of the former Archdiocese of St Andrews, St Andrews Cathedral having been the seat of the most senior bishop of Scotland since the 10th century. St Andrews is also renowned as the home of golf.

ChatGPT

  1. fife

    A fife is a small, high-pitched, transverse flute that is similar to the piccolo, often used in military and marching musical groups. It is known for its shrill tone and usually has six to eight finger holes.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Fifenoun

    a small shrill pipe, resembling the piccolo flute, used chiefly to accompany the drum in military music

  2. Fifeverb

    to play on a fife

  3. Etymology: [F. fifre, OHG. pffa, LL. pipa pipe, pipare to play on the pipe, fr. L. pipire, pipare, to peep, pip, chirp, as a chiken. See Pipe.]

Wikidata

  1. Fife

    Fife is a council area and historic county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire. It was once one of the major Pictish kingdoms, known as Fib, and is still commonly known as the Kingdom of Fife within Scotland. It is a lieutenancy area, and was a county of Scotland until 1975. It was very occasionally known by the anglicisation Fifeshire in old documents and maps compiled by English cartographers and authors. A person from Fife is known as a Fifer. Fife was a local government region divided into three districts: Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and North-East Fife. Since 1996 the functions of the district councils have been exercised by the unitary Fife Council. Fife is Scotland's third largest local authority area by population. It has a resident population of just under 360,000, almost a third of whom live in the three principal towns of Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy and Glenrothes. Kirkcaldy is Fife's largest town by population, followed by Dunfermline and then Glenrothes. The historic town of St Andrews is located on the northeast coast of Fife. It is well known for one of the most ancient universities in the World and is renowned as the home of golf.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Fife

    fīf, n. a smaller variety of the flute, usually with only one key.—v.i. to play on the fife.—ns. Fife′-mā′jor (obs.), the chief fifer in a regiment; Fif′er, one who plays on a fife; Fife′-rail, the rail round the mainmast for belaying-pins. [Fr. fifre, Ger. pfeife, both, acc. to Littré, from L. pipāre, to chirp.]

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Fife

    a maritime county in the E. of Scotland, which juts out into the German Ocean and is washed by the Firths of Tay and Forth on its N. and S. shores respectively, thus forming a small peninsula; has for the most part a broken and hilly surface, extensively cultivated however, while the "How of Fife," watered by the Eden, is a fertile valley, richly wooded; and valuable coal deposits are worked in the S. and W.; its long coast-line is studded with picturesque towns, many of them of ancient date, a circumstance which led James VI. to describe the county as "a beggar's mantle fringed with gold"; it is associated with much that is memorable in Scottish history.

Military Dictionary and Gazetteer

  1. fife

    A wooden wind instrument, which is used with the snare-drum for playing military music. The music is produced by blowing through a hole in a reed or tube, while the escape of air is regulated by the fingers stopping or opening a number of other holes in different parts of the pipe.

Suggested Resources

  1. FIFE

    What does FIFE stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the FIFE acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. FIFE

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Fife is ranked #5202 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Fife surname appeared 6,719 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 would have the surname Fife.

    88.7% or 5,961 total occurrences were White.
    6.1% or 413 total occurrences were Black.
    2.1% or 143 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.7% or 116 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.8% or 58 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    0.4% or 28 total occurrences were Asian.

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Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Fife in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Fife in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Examples of Fife in a Sentence

  1. Thomas Osbert Mordaunt:

    Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife, Throughout the sensual world proclaim, One crowded hour of glorious life, Is worth an age without name.

  2. William Shakespeare:

    O, now, for ever Farewell the tranquil mind farewell content Farewell the plumed troop and the big wars That make ambition virtue O, farewell Farewell the neighing steed and the shrill trump, The spirit-stirring drum, the ear-piercing fife, The royal banner, and all quality, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war And, O you mortal engines, whose rude throats The immortal Jove's dread clamours counterfeit, Farewell Othello's occupation's gone

  3. Charles Eliot Norton:

    The voice of protest, of warning, of appeal is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum, echoed by the press and too often by the pulpit, is bidding all men fall in and keep step and obey in silence the tyrannous word of command. Then, more than ever, it is the duty of the good citizen not to be silent.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Fife#10000#16645#100000

Translations for Fife

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"Fife." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Fife>.

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    a fabric with a nap that is longer and softer than velvet
    A plush
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