Word definition: piece

Etimology


From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin petia, pettia, possibly from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion”); doublet of English fit, fytte, fytt (“musical piece, chapter”), Icelandic fit (“web”), German Fitze (“skein”), from Old High German *fitjâ. Compare Welsh peth, Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid. Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza, Italian pezza, Italian pezzo.

noun


piece (plural pieces)

A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.

A single item belonging to a class of similar items.

(chess) One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; by extension, a similar counter etc. in other games.

A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.

An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.

An article published in the press.

(military) An artillery gun.

(US, colloquial) A gun.

(US, Canada, colloquial, short for hairpiece) A toupee or wig, especially when worn by a man.

(Scotland, Ireland, UK, US, dialectal) A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.

(US, colloquial, vulgar) A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail.

(US, colloquial, mildly vulgar, short for piece of crap/piece of shit) A shoddy or worthless object (usually applied to consumer products like vehicles or appliances).

(US, slang) A cannabis pipe.

(baseball, uncountable) Used to describe a pitch that has been hit but not well, usually either being caught by the opposing team or going foul. Usually used in the past tense with get.

(dated, sometimes derogatory) An individual; a person.

(obsolete) A castle; a fortified building.

(US) A pacifier; a dummy.

(colloquial) A distance.

(rowing) A structured practice row, often used for performance evaluation.

An amount of work to be done at one time; a unit of piece work.

(slang) An ounce of a recreational drug.

Examples


I’d like another piece of pie.

I've lost a piece of this jigsaw puzzle.

No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]

a piece of machinery

a piece of software

a useful piece of advice

[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […]

Synonym: game piece

Pawns, unlike pieces, move only in one direction: forward.

a sixpenny piece

Synonyms: see Thesaurus:musical composition

She played two beautiful pieces on the piano.

Today's paper has an interesting piece on medical research.

No, I didn't read the piece on China's faceless masses, I was, I was checking out the lingerie ads.

[…] all our Ammunition was spent. Those of us who had Money made Slugs of it; their next Shift was to take the middle Screws out of their Guns, and charge their Pieces with them.

He's packin' a piece!

I wanted peace, but now my piece is clearing out the block.

It was do or be done. Get or get gotten. It was self-preservation like I'd never felt before, and when Rome passed me his piece I didn't even hesitate as I raised that bitch in the air and aimed it at Vyreen.

The announcer is wearing a new piece.

My grannie came and gived them all a piece and jam and cups of water then I was to bring them back out to the street and play a game.

I got a piece at lunchtime.

Ugh, my new computer is such a piece. I'm taking it back to the store tomorrow.

he got a piece of that one;  she got a piece of the ball […] and it's going foul.

If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him.

Thy mother was a piece of virtue.

His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.

He receyued againe all the holdes and peeces which his father had lost.

the ranſack of that peece

Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pacifier

a far piece

located a fair piece away from their camp

a fair piece off

At practice we rowed four 5,000 meter pieces.

That last piece was torture.

In fact, that was back during the era when you could buy a piece of heroin, an ounce of heroin, for $500 and cut it three times for a 3-to-1 cut on it and the dope would still be good.

Related words


synonyms

See also Thesaurus:piece

verb


piece (third-person singular simple present pieces, present participle piecing, simple past and past participle pieced)

(transitive, usually with together) To assemble (something real or figurative).

To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out.

(slang) To produce a work of graffiti more complex than a tag.

Examples


These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.

His adversaries […] pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.The spelling has been modernized.

The spelling has been modernized.

to piece a garment

You have broke it, cousin: and , by my life , you shall make it whole again ; you shall piece it out with a piece of your performance

“It didn't rain, so I decided to come piece with you. […] ” We never finished that piece.

It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.

It is often used to collect other writer's tags, and future plans for bombing and piecing.

Data provided by Wiktionary