Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BAG'PIPE, n. [bag and pipe.]

A musical wind instrument, used chiefly in Scotland and Ireland. It consists of a leathern bag, which receives the air by a tube, which is stopped by a valve; and pipes, into which the air is pressed by the performer. The base-pipe is called the drone, and the tenor or treble is called the chanter. The pipes have eight holes like those of a flute, which the performer stops and opens at pleasure. There are several species of bagpipes, as the soft and melodious Irish bagpipe, with two short drones and a long one; the Highland bagpipe, with two short drones, the music of which is very loud; the Scot's Lowland bagpipe, which is played with a bellows, and is also a loud instrument. There is also a small pipe, with a chanter about eight inches in length. – Encyc. In seamanship, to bag-pipe the mizzen, is to lay it aback by bringing the sheet to the mizzen shrouds. – Mar. Dict.