From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishhornpipehorn‧pipe /ˈhɔːnpaɪp $ ˈhɔːrn-/ noun [countable] APDa traditional dance performed by sailors, or the music for this dance
Examples from the Corpus
hornpipe• She heard his uncertain footsteps 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 jaunty hornpipe rhythm. 