sb. pl. [? ad. Ir. píob uilleann, f. píob pipe + uilleann, gen. sing. of uille elbow.] A form of bagpipes in which the wind-bag is inflated by bellows worked by the elbow; Irish bagpipes.
1851–61. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, III. 163/1. The union pipes are the old Irish pipes improved.
1877. R. Bell, Early Ballads, etc., 441. We first heard it sung in Malhamdale, Yorkshire, by … an old Dales’-minstrel, who accompanied himself on the union-pipes.
