hornpipe• She heard his uncertainfootsteps on the stairs and he was humming a hornpipe under his breath.• Jig, reel, and hornpipe were all I could come up with.• Traditionally every hornpipe begins as the sailors come on deck and dance figures-of-eight round the bollards before setting to work.• The conductor often allows heavy, clumsy-sounding accentuation, for example in the bass air, where he misses the jauntyhornpiperhythm.