I. ˈpēs noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English pece, piece, from Old French, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin pettia, from (assumed) Gaulish; akin to Breton pez piece, Welsh peth part, thing, Old Irish cuit part
1. : a part of a whole : fragment , portion
the besieging forces would try to mine under a piece of wall — Tom Wintringham
2.
a. obsolete : man — usually used disparagingly
b. : girl , woman , baggage
3. : an object or individual regarded as a unit of a kind or class : example
handsome teak tables copied … from antique pieces — New Yorker
each piece of ripe fruit … has to be picked by hand — Sat. Eve. Post
as
a. : a person exemplifying a particular quality
thy mother was a piece of virtue — Shakespeare
b. : a period of time especially if brief
sat thinking for a piece
c. : an interval of space regarded as part of a longer distance
had gone a fair piece of the way — A.J.Liebling
d. : an individual instance or specimen
a piece of impudence
a piece of news
4.
a. : a length varying from 40 to 120 yards of cloth suitable for processing and especially for dyeing and finishing
b. archaic : a standard or customary quantity or length of merchandise (as wallpaper, wine) made up for sale or use
c. : a pair, block, strip, or sheet of stamps or a single stamp considered as a single unit for sale as philatelic material
5. : a product of creative work: as
a. : a literary composition
a collection of mostly out-of-the-way pieces — a biography, a fictional biography, horror stories, adventure stories, and long short stories — Saturday Review
b. : a product of graphic or plastic art : painting , picture , sculpture
images of the Buddha are made to certain conventional patterns and there is often great difficulty in determining the origin of any piece on stylistic grounds — C.P.Fitzgerald
c. : a theatrical production : drama , play
the series of psychological pieces — Leslie Rees
d. : a musical composition
has played four American pieces in a row — Virgil Thomson
e. : a passage to be recited : declamation
spoke his piece at the school graduation
6. : a projectile weapon (as a rifle, revolver, or artillery big gun)
ceased to debate the question of his piece being loaded — Stephen Crane
7.
a. : a coin of a specified metal
gold piece
piece of silver
or denomination
shilling piece
10-cent piece
b. obsolete : any of several 17th and early 18th century English gold coins (as the unite, sovereign, or guinea)
c. : token , counter
good-luck piece
8. chiefly dialect : a light simple lunch especially when not eaten as a regular meal
a piece in our pockets, so that mealtimes didn't matter — Margaret Aitken
9. obsolete : a fortified city or other stronghold
10. : a strip of leather inserted in a panel or affixed between bands on the backbone of a book and lettered
11. : floor 10
12.
a. : a man used in playing a board game ; specifically : any of the 16 chessmen of superior rank as distinguished from the pawns — see bishop , king , knight , queen , rook
b. slang : playing card
a piece of trump
13. : log 1a
14. : a chunk of whole blubber
15. pieces plural : portions picked out of the skirtings as suitable to be included with better grade wools
16. archaic : an inferior crystallized sugar obtained as one of the products of a now obsolete manufacturing process
17. : opinion , viewpoint , mind
you have to know your piece to get by them — H.J.Laski
just about every accredited Republican spokesman has said his piece — R.H.Rovere
18.
a. : an act of copulation — usually considered vulgar
b. : a partner in sexual intercourse — usually considered vulgar
19. : something composed of a specified material
fur piece
floral piece
20. : part ownership of an enterprise or property
had a piece of a nearby automobile dealership
Synonyms: see part
•
- by the piece
- of a piece
- on piece
- piece of one's mind
- to pieces
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English pecen, from pece piece, noun
transitive verb
1. : to repair, renew, or complete by adding pieces : patch
pieced from scrap a locomotive — A.F.Harlow
pieced out a set of china
2. : to join into a whole : unite the parts of : combine out of pieces
had been piecing a quilt all afternoon
— often used with together
his new book … has been pieced together from talks — Merle Miller
3.
a. : foot 8
piece an arrow
b. : to splice (a stele) with other wood
c. : to splice (new wood) in a bow where a defect has been cut out
intransitive verb
1. obsolete : to come or fit together : coalesce from parts : agree , assemble
2. chiefly dialect : to eat between meals : nibble at snacks
there he was, piecing on the ham — Eudora Welty
3. : to join broken threads, slivers, or rovings in spinning or other textile manufacturing operations
•
- piece up
III. noun
•
- piece of the action