Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A thing considered as a unit or an element of a larger thing, quantity, or class; a portion.
  • noun A portion or part that has been separated from a whole.
  • noun An object that is one member of a group or class.
  • noun An artistic, musical, or literary work or composition.
  • noun An instance; a specimen.
  • noun What one has to say about something; an opinion.
  • noun A coin.
  • noun One of the counters or figures used in playing various board games.
  • noun Any one of the chess figures other than a pawn.
  • noun Slang A firearm, especially a rifle.
  • noun Informal A given distance.
  • transitive verb To mend by adding pieces or a piece to.
  • transitive verb To join or unite the pieces of.
  • idiom (a piece of (one's) mind) Frank and severe criticism; censure.
  • idiom (of a piece) Belonging to the same class or kind.
  • idiom (piece by piece) In stages.
  • idiom (piece of ass) A person, especially a woman, considered sexually attractive.
  • idiom Informal (piece of cake) Something very easy to do.
  • idiom (piece of the action) A share of an activity or of profits.
  • idiom (piece of work) A remarkable person, achievement, or product.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A relatively small portion in bulk or extent forming a part of the whole in which it is or was included; a part; bit; morsel: as, a piece of bread or of chalk; a piece of ground; a piece of history; a piece of one's mind.
  • noun A separate bit; a fragment: as, to fall to pieces; to break, tear, cut, or dash to pieces.
  • noun A specimen, instance, example, or sort: as, a piece of impudence; a piece of carelessness.
  • noun A separate article; a thing: as, a piece of plate.
  • noun A coin: as, a piece of eight (see phrase below); a fourpenny piece.
  • noun A cannon or gun; a firearm: as, his piece was not loaded; a fowling-piece.
  • noun A building; a castle.
  • noun A ship; a vessel.
  • noun A distinct artistic or literary production; a separate article, poem, drama, painting, statue, or other artistic or literary work: as, a piece of music; to speak a piece; a finely painted piece.
  • noun A lunch; a snack.
  • noun A distinct job or operation taken separately; the amount of work done or to be done at any one time: as, to work by the piece; to do piece-work.
  • noun A definite and continuous quantity; a definite length, as of some textile fabric delivered by a manufacturer to the trade; a whole web of cloth or a whole roll of wall-paper: as, goods sold only by the piece; a whole piece of lace.
  • noun In brewing, a quantity of grain steeped and spread out at one time to make malt. Also called floor.
  • noun A plot of ground; a lot; a field; a clearing.
  • noun An individual; a person: now used only contemptuously, and commonly of women: as, she is a bold piece.
  • noun In chess, checkers, etc., one of the men with which the game is played; specifically, in chess, one of the superior men, as distinguished from a pawn.
  • noun A cup or drinking-vessel: also used indefinitely for a cask or barrel of wine, as the equivalent of the French pièce, which has different values in different parts of France.
  • noun In bookbinding, a tablet of leather which fills a panel on the back of a book.
  • noun In whaling, specifically, a section or chunk of blubber, more fully called blanket-piece (which see, below).
  • noun In entomology, any definitely hardened or chitinized part of the integument, especially of the abdomen, thorax, or head: technically called a sclerite.
  • noun See the qualifying words.
  • To patch, repair, enlarge, extend, or complete by the addition of a piece or pieces: as, to piece a garment or a curtain.
  • To repair by the use of pieces of the same material, or without the addition of new material, as by bringing the unworn parts to the place where the most wear is; hence, to make good the defects of; strengthen; reinforce.
  • To unite or reunite (that which has been broken or separated); make one again; join or rejoin, as one thing to another, or as friends who have fallen out.
  • To unite by coalescence of parts; be gathered as parts into a whole.
  • To eat a “piece”; eat between meals, as a child.
  • noun A small portion of time; a little while.
  • noun In fireworks, a piece, more or less elaborate, which is fastened to a standard, and when it is ignited, shows a design, such as a face, etc.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English pece, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *pettia, probably of Celtic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English pece, from Anglo-Norman peece, peice et al. and Old French pece, piece et al., apparently from Late Latin *pettia, *pettium. Ultimate origin uncertain; perhaps from Transalpine Gaulish (compare Welsh peth, Breton pez ("thing"), Irish cuid ("part")).

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Examples

  • The main piece is a large rectangular cardboard box, which fits nicely between the patio steps and the unused western gate.

    My green thumb, let me show you it! 2009

  • In the title piece of Steven Millhauser's collection of new and selected stories, "We Others" Knopf, 387 pages, $27.95 , the "we" refers to phantoms who infiltrate picket-fenced suburbia—becoming "the companions of lawn mowers in toolsheds, of gas grills beside tarp-covered woodpiles"—and who try in vain to join the lives of the people who live there.

    Of Bouquets, Suburbs and 'Urth' Sam Sacks 2011

  • The seven shorts included all have winter and holiday themes, naturally, including the title piece and "Bitzer's New Hat," "Snowed In" and the like.

    Michael Giltz: DVDs: New Christmas DVDs For Your Stocking Michael Giltz 2011

  • Nora Ephron worries about a failing memory in the title piece of "I Remember Nothing," her inviting new collection of essays.

    The Beatles, The Stones, The Raiders: Book Review Roundup The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • Nora Ephron worries about a failing memory in the title piece of "I Remember Nothing," her inviting new collection of essays.

    The Beatles, The Stones, The Raiders: Book Review Roundup Sammy Perlmutter 2010

  • Nora Ephron worries about a failing memory in the title piece of "I Remember Nothing," her inviting new collection of essays.

    The Beatles, The Stones, The Raiders: Book Review Roundup The Huffington Post News Team 2010

  • Nora Ephron worries about a failing memory in the title piece of "I Remember Nothing," her inviting new collection of essays.

    The Beatles, The Stones, The Raiders: Book Review Roundup Sammy Perlmutter 2010

  • The sumthin 'Nariani worked up for "ILLhaam" was the surprise aerial choreography of the title piece, shown in the video above I shot it from my seat; a professionally-produced video will be available by the holidays on DVD, which brought a Cirque du Soleil-like element of graceful movement to the precision movements of the dancers grounded on the stage.

    Gil Asakawa: Mudra Dance Studio Show Takes Flight in "ILLhaam... Cycles... ILLumination" Gil Asakawa 2010

  • I reminded myself that I had missed my regular writing session yesterday, and then I remembered something Joan Didion wrote in the preface to Slouching Towards Bethlehem about writing the title piece:

    2009 October « Exile on Ninth Street 2009

  • I reminded myself that I had missed my regular writing session yesterday, and then I remembered something Joan Didion wrote in the preface to Slouching Towards Bethlehem about writing the title piece:

    2009 October 09 « Exile on Ninth Street 2009

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