Pipelaying

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The work of laying lengths of pipe underground or along a route to carry water, gas, oil or other fluids
2. Installing a network of conduits in the ground so that liquids or gases can flow between points
3. Constructing a line of pipes across terrain to transport fluids over a long distance

Etymology: Pipelaying is about as transparent as English compounds get: "pipe" plus "laying," the gerund of "lay," used here as a noun for the work of placing pipes in the ground. The surprise lies in the verb rather than the noun. "Lay" comes from Old English "lecgan," a causative verb meaning to make something lie down, which is why we lay a table or lay an egg but do not lay ourselves down; "lie" is the intransitive sibling that stayed behind. The "pipe" half carries its own older history. It descends from Old English "pīpe," a word for a musical wind instrument and, later, a tube, borrowed from a Latin source related to "pipare," meaning to chirp or peep. The meaning of a tube for conveying liquid or gas developed centuries later, so the sense "pipe" in a water main is a reapplication of a word that originally named a sound-making instrument.