piefe

Etymology
From northern, from.

The sense “to sulk” is not in the Rheinisches Wörterbuch (vol. 6 = 1944) and would thus seem to be fairly young. It can be derived from “to wheeze”, perhaps also from the notion of someone sulkily whiffing away on their pipe. Moreover the RhWb mentions the expression for wailing, lamenting.

Verb

 * 1)  to smoke a pipe
 * 2)  to wheeze breathe loudly and with trouble
 * 3)  to sulk, be grumpy
 * 4)  to whistle or play a wind instrument