A: Can we stop for ice cream at the next gas station? I’d also like a Coke and some chips! B: Unless you pipe down, we’re going to turn this car around and head straight back home! Note: This idiom means to “shut up, be quiet.” On sailing ships signals were given to the crew by sounding the boatswain’s pipe. One such was “piping down the hammocks” which 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.” | 