Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FIFE, n. [Fr. fifre; G. pfeife. It is radically the same as pipe, W. pib, Ir. pib or pip, D. pyp, Dan. pibe, Sw. pipa, coinciding with L. pipio, to pip or peep, as a chicken. The word may have received its name from a hollow stalk, or from its sound.]

A small pipe, used as a wind instrument, chiefly in martial music with drums.