pipe, n.² — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

pipe n.²

1. a glance, a look (at).

1902		Sun (NY) 12 Oct. 18/2: I’d tied the bundle of ones up with a piece o’ rope — and gave her a pipe at it .
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 888/2: from ca. 1880.

2. an identification.

1933

‘Paul Cain’ Fast One (1936) 71: That’s a pipe - it was one of the Barrymores.

3. a dream.

1963

in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 21: Remember this here chick – used to believe her pipes meant something. Pipes – dreams.

do a pipe (v.)

(Aus. und.) keep a lookout.

1910

Truth (Perth) 13 Aug. 4/6: He will do a pipe for coppers, / Put the sister on her guard.

have a pipe (v.)

to glance at.

1902		C.L. Cullen More Ex-Tank Tales 38: I hadn’t more than got a good pipe at him before I began to wonder [etc.].
1980		J. McVicar in Sun. Times 31 Aug. (Mag. section) n.p.: Have a pipe at her [...] I might just give her a pull.

lay pipes (v.)

to survey, to reconnoitre.

1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 29 Sept. 11/2: ‘Laying pipe’ to introduce the boxing game into other cities.
1906		O‘. Henry’ ‘The Love-Philtre of Ikey Schoenstein’ in Four Million 121: We've been layin' pipes for the getaway for two weeks.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 136: Clifford wa’n’t a Western crook who was layin’ pipes for a little jimmy work.
1971		E. Wilson Show Business Nobody Knows 1: Then there was Europe, where I traveled [...] laying pipelines to get the first word on Grace Kelly’s baby.
2017		D. Winslow The Force [ebook] The motherfucker was wired, laying pipe the whole time [...] digging an escape tunnel in case he needed it.

on the pipe

(UK Und.) keeping a lookout; conducting a surveillance.

1865

Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 102/2: As we entered the railway station, I noticed several ‘fly-cops’ on the ‘pipe’ for ‘cross coves’.