pipe down
to make less noise
TRANSLATION
pipe down = leiser sein, den Mund halten, die Luft anhalten, nicht so laut ! Ruhe bitte! (LEO) --- GOOGLE INDEX pipe down: approximately 680,000 hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
The teacher told the students to PIPE DOWN or else they would get an extra homework assignment.
(DH)
---
He told them to PIPE DOWN, and when they did not, the lawyer reported the two men to court personnel, who charged them with disorderly conduct.
(from a news report about two men who were arrested for laughing too loud while telling lawyer jokes outside of a courtroom in Chicago)
(DH)
---
He told them to PIPE DOWN, and when they did not, the lawyer reported the two men to court personnel, who charged them with disorderly conduct.
(from a news report about two men who were arrested for laughing too loud while telling lawyer jokes outside of a courtroom in Chicago)
Did you
know?
pipe down
phrasal verb
- to stop talking or making unnecessary noise
(Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
On sailing ships, the crew were given signals by sounding a pipe. One such signal was 'piping down the hammocks' (hammocks being what the sailors sleep on – Hängematte). This was the signal to go below decks and retire for the night. When an officer wanted a sailor to be dismissed below, he would have him 'piped down'. This usage is recorded in Royal Navy workbooks from the 18th century.
For adults who don’t have the nerve to deal with children, who by nature are loud and noisy, the expression pipe down gets lots of use.
Take the case of a Mr. Teets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He lives next to a church that operates a day care centre for children. Mr. Teets filed an official complaint claiming the noise from the playground was a noise pollution violation. He went so far as to measure the noise coming from the playground and discovered it exceeded 80 decibels.
According to the World Almanac, normal conversation takes place at 30 decibels, while a noisy office is 60 decibels. In response to public criticism regarding his complaint, the man said, “I'm not opposed to God, Jesus, the Methodist Church, child care or children. But I have the legal right to enjoy the use of my back yard."
---
SYNONYMS
be quiet, put a lid on it, keep the noise down, hush, cool it, calm down, shhhhh...
*There is fine line between “pipe down” and “shut up”. The last is considered a rude expression more equivalent to the German “halt die Klappe” or “Halt’s Maul”
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
“Everyone started talking at once in the middle of the meeting. Finally, I told them to pipe down so we could get through the rest of the agenda. Otherwise, we would be here all night.”
phrasal verb
- to stop talking or making unnecessary noise
(Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary)
---
WORD ORIGIN
On sailing ships, the crew were given signals by sounding a pipe. One such signal was 'piping down the hammocks' (hammocks being what the sailors sleep on – Hängematte). This was the signal to go below decks and retire for the night. When an officer wanted a sailor to be dismissed below, he would have him 'piped down'. This usage is recorded in Royal Navy workbooks from the 18th century.
For adults who don’t have the nerve to deal with children, who by nature are loud and noisy, the expression pipe down gets lots of use.
Take the case of a Mr. Teets in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He lives next to a church that operates a day care centre for children. Mr. Teets filed an official complaint claiming the noise from the playground was a noise pollution violation. He went so far as to measure the noise coming from the playground and discovered it exceeded 80 decibels.
According to the World Almanac, normal conversation takes place at 30 decibels, while a noisy office is 60 decibels. In response to public criticism regarding his complaint, the man said, “I'm not opposed to God, Jesus, the Methodist Church, child care or children. But I have the legal right to enjoy the use of my back yard."
---
SYNONYMS
be quiet, put a lid on it, keep the noise down, hush, cool it, calm down, shhhhh...
*There is fine line between “pipe down” and “shut up”. The last is considered a rude expression more equivalent to the German “halt die Klappe” or “Halt’s Maul”
---
IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS TODAY
say something like:
“Everyone started talking at once in the middle of the meeting. Finally, I told them to pipe down so we could get through the rest of the agenda. Otherwise, we would be here all night.”
