Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

pipe-dream en · VERB

Pronunciation

  • /ˈpaɪpdriːm/ (Received-Pronunciation)
  • (Australia) audio
  • /ˈpaɪpˌdrim/ (General-American)

Etymology

From pipe dream (noun).

Meanings

  1. (intransitive) To have a desire or idea which is unlikely to materialize, or to imagine a plan which is unlikely to work; to dream of a near impossibility.
    • Love is life sublime, / Ev'ry moment that I'm / Only wasting my time / Pipe dreaming of you, / Pipe dreaming of you, […] 1946 April, Cole Porter, “Around the World in Eighty Days [Pipe Dreaming]”, in Robert Kimball, editor, The Complete Lyrics of Cole Porter, New York, N.Y.: Da Capo Press, published 1992, →ISBN, page 378, column 1:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
pipe-dreams Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres lexicographic
pipe-dreamed Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part lexicographic
pipe-dreamed Tense=Past lexicographic
pipe-dreaming Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part lexicographic

Translations (2)

fi uneksia (to have a desire or idea which is unlikely to materialize, or to imagine a plan which is unlikely to work) · fi nähdä toiveunta (to have a desire or idea which is unlikely to materialize, or to imagine a plan which is unlikely to work)