(obsolete) Chiefly in court of piepowders, etc.
(obsolete) Chiefly in court of piepowders, etc. (sense 2): a traveller, particularly one on foot; a wayfarer; specifically, a travelling merchant.
Piepowder means: Chiefly in court of piepowders, etc. (sense 2): a traveller, particularly one on foot; a wayfarer; specifically, a travelling merchant.. The word is mostly archaic or historical; you will only encounter it in old texts, period drama, or school history rather than current teen conversation. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour.
Slang is read by different audiences for very different reasons. The For parents view re-explains the term in plain, non-judgemental language so a caregiver can understand what their child means without needing the surrounding subculture. The For English learners view focuses on register (when it's safe to use), formal alternatives, and common mistakes — what a textbook won't teach you.
Add your own interpretation of "piepowder".
The vocabulary of software engineers, AI researchers, and anyone living in a terminal or on GitHub — from LLM to MCP, CORS to vibe coding, agentic to enshittification.
See all Tech, Dev & AI slang on Slangora.
Browse all slang words starting with P.
A man who sells pies.
(UK, obsolete) A dike around a marsh or fen.
(slang, snowboarding) Powdery snow.
British dated term for a travelling salesman — someone who criss-crossed the country by train or car, case of samples in hand, charming shop owners and buyers into placing orders. The phrase carries a vaguely Dickensian atmosphere of smoky railway carriages and dodgy boarding-house dinners. While the job still exists under flashier titles like 'field sales rep', commercial traveller belongs to an earlier, more buttoned-up era of British commerce.
Piepowder means: Chiefly in court of piepowders, etc. (sense 2): a traveller, particularly one on foot; a wayfarer; specifically, a travelling merchant.. The word is mostly archaic or historical; you will only encounter it in old texts, period drama, or school history rather than current teen conversation. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than risky behaviour.
piepowder means: Chiefly in court of piepowders, etc. (sense 2): a traveller, particularly one on foot; a wayfarer; specifically, a travelling merchant.. Register: archaic, historical. Almost never used today; you will find it only in older texts, dictionaries of dialect, or historical writing. Avoid in active vocabulary. A common learner mistake is using the word in a register it does not fit, or assuming a single global meaning; native speakers immediately notice when slang appears in formal contexts, so always check the surrounding register before producing it yourself.
No comments yet — say something.
(Britain, law, historical) In full court of piepowders (also court of piepowder) or piepowder court: an ancient court in England held in conjunction with a fair or a market to administer summary justice over occurrences therein such as disputes between merchants and acts of theft and violence; they were presided over by the mayor and bailiffs of the borough, or by the steward if the fair or market was held by a lord.
No comments yet — say something.