Word: piece Part of Speech: noun Etymology: 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, quota”). Compare Welsh peth, Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid. Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza, Italian pezza, Italian pezzo. Pronunciation: /piːs/ 1. A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts. Example: Near-synonyms: aspect, portion Example: I’d like another piece of pie. 2. A single item belonging to a class of similar items. Example: a piece of machinery Example: a piece of software 3. One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; (by extension) those with which draughts, backgammon, and other similar board games are played. Example: Pawns, unlike pieces, move only in one direction: forward. Example: It is not permitted to move a piece to a square occupied by a piece of the same colour. […] Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks. 4. A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency. Example: a sixpenny piece 5. An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc. Example: She played two beautiful pieces on the piano. Example: period piece 6. An article published in the press. Example: Today's paper has an interesting piece on medical research. Example: No, I didn't read the piece on China's faceless masses, I was, I was checking out the lingerie ads. 7. An artillery gun. Example: […] 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. 8. A gun. Labels: US, colloquial Example: He's packin' a piece! Example: I wanted peace, but now my piece is clearing out the block. 9. A toupee or wig, especially when worn by a man. Labels: Canada, US, colloquial Example: The announcer is wearing a new piece. 10. A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack. Labels: Ireland, Scotland, UK, US, dialectal Example: 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. 11. A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail. Labels: US, colloquial, vulgar Example: I got a piece at lunchtime. 12. A shoddy or worthless object (usually applied to consumer products like vehicles or appliances). Labels: US, colloquial, mildly, vulgar Example: Ugh, my new computer is such a piece. I'm taking it back to the store tomorrow. 13. A cannabis pipe. Labels: US, slang 14. 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. Labels: uncountable Example: he got a piece of that one; she got a piece of the ball[…]and it's going foul. 15. An individual; a person. Labels: dated, derogatory, sometimes Example: If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him. Example: Thy mother was a piece of virtue. 16. A castle; a fortified building. Labels: obsolete Example: Then enteryng into league with Philip the French king, he receyued againe all the holdes and peeces which his father had loſt a little before, […] Example: the ranſack of that peece 17. A pacifier; a dummy. Labels: US 18. A distance or amount. Labels: colloquial Example: a far piece Example: located a fair piece away from their camp 19. A structured practice row, often used for performance evaluation. Example: At practice we rowed four 5,000 meter pieces. Example: That last piece was torture. 20. An amount of work to be done at one time; a unit of piece work. 21. An ounce of a recreational drug. Labels: slang Example: 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.