pibroch

Definitions

from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  • noun A wild, irregular kind of music, peculiar to the Scottish Highlands, performed upon the bagpipe.

Examples

  • Oliver at last relieved his host by swaggering off, imitating as well as he could the sturdy step and outward gesture of his redoubted companion, and whistling a pibroch composed on the rout of the Danes at Loncarty, which he had picked up from its being a favourite of the smith’s, whom he made a point of imitating as far as he could.

    The Fair Maid of Perth

  • The wild wailings of the pibroch were heard at times, interchanged with the drums and fifes, which beat the Dead March.

    Chronicles of the Canongate

  • The tune rose on a shrill spiral and high and clear it poured forth the challenging notes of a fierce pibroch, the war song of the Clan McDonald.

    In Orchard Glen

Note

'Pibroch' comes from the Scottish Gaelic 'piobaireachd,' pipe music, which ultimately comes from the Latin 'pipare,' to chirp or peep.