piece
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
baseball
board-games
chess
games
government
hobbies
lifestyle
military
politics
rowing
sports
war
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.
Inflected forms:
form: pieces
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: peece
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: pieces
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: piecing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: pieced
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: pieced
pos: verb
tags: past
form: peece
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.
pos: noun
examples: Near-synonyms: aspect, portion
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; euery man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]
gloss: A single item belonging to a class of similar items.
pos: noun
examples: a piece of machinery
a piece of software
a useful piece of advice
"Squalled at me that she owned the business and that she wouldn't take any back talk from me and that the piece wasn't for sale. What could I do?"
[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, […]
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
examples: Pawns, unlike pieces, move only in one direction: forward.
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.
gloss: A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
pos: noun
examples: a sixpenny piece
gloss: An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.
pos: noun
examples: She played two beautiful pieces on the piano.
Now, his pieces are in the collections of institutions like the Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Met, where they operate the way Frey always intended: as works of art.
gloss: An article published in the press.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
gloss: An artillery gun.
pos: noun
examples: […] 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.
gloss: A gun.
pos: noun
tags: US
colloquial
examples: 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.
"This is just a cover story," Clay says to O5-8, not taking his eyes off Marion. "It's a good one, but she's had it worked out in advance."
"Clay, lose the piece," says the O5.
Grudgingly, Clay does so.
gloss: A toupee or wig, especially when worn by a man.
pos: noun
tags: Canada
US
colloquial
examples: The announcer is wearing a new piece.
gloss: A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.
pos: noun
tags: Ireland
Scotland
UK
US
dialectal
examples: 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.
gloss: A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail.
pos: noun
tags: US
colloquial
vulgar
examples: I got a piece at lunchtime.
gloss: A shoddy or worthless object (usually applied to consumer products like vehicles or appliances).
pos: noun
tags: US
colloquial
mildly
vulgar
examples: Ugh, my new computer is such a piece. I'm taking it back to the store tomorrow.
gloss: A cannabis pipe.
pos: noun
tags: US
slang
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: he got a piece of that one; she got a piece of the ball[…]and it's going foul.
gloss: An individual; a person.
pos: noun
tags: dated
derogatory
sometimes
examples: 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.
gloss: A castle; a fortified building.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 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, […]
the ranſack of that peece
gloss: A pacifier; a dummy.
pos: noun
tags: US
gloss: A distance or amount.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
examples: a far piece
located a fair piece away from their camp
I never did believe that he was in it. He's a piece too mean-spirited to have the nerve.
gloss: A structured practice row, often used for performance evaluation.
pos: noun
examples: At practice we rowed four 5,000 meter pieces.
That last piece was torture.
gloss: An amount of work to be done at one time; a unit of piece work.
pos: noun
gloss: An ounce of a recreational drug.
pos: noun
tags: slang
examples: 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.
gloss: To assemble (something real or figurative).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
usually
examples: These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.
His adversaries […] pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.
gloss: To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out.
pos: verb
examples: 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
gloss: To produce a work of graffiti more complex than a tag.
pos: verb
tags: slang
examples: “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.
gloss: To eat small quantities of food between meals; to snack; to take small or intermittent bites at a food item.
pos: verb
tags: dated
informal
intransitive
often
with-on
examples: There he was, piecing on the ham.
Do not piece between meals.
“Piecing” between meals often means eating sweet crackers, candy, or sweet beverages at almost any hour. These taste good but spoil the appetite for more desirable foods. What's eaten between meals should make a real contribution to daily food intake: fruit, or tomato juice, or a small glass of milk, a small peanut butter or cheese sandwich and the like are good choices. And a mid-morning or mid-afternoon pick-up does not interfere with appetite as irregular nibbling or piecing does.
Synonyms: bit
chip
chunk
clip
crumb
crumbling
cutting
flake
fleak
fragment
hunk
lump
mammock
ort
piece
piecemeal
portion
scrap
scraplet
slice
snead
snippet
steck
Related words: chunk
bit
peace
asunder
broken
board game piece
modicum
Derived words: afterpiece
all in one piece
altarpiece
apiece
apieces
arm-piece
armpiece
art piece
artpiece
backpiece
bail-piece
bailpiece
battle piece
bedpiece
bits and pieces
bonnet piece
broadpiece
by the piece
cane piece
centerpiece
centrepiece
character piece
cheekpiece
chess piece
chess-piece
chestpiece
chimneypiece
chimney piece
chimney-piece
chinpiece
codpiece
companion piece
conepiece
conversation piece
cornerpiece
counterpiece
court piece
creampuff piece
cream puff piece
crosspiece
crownpiece
crown piece
depiece
differential piece work
dime piece
doating-piece
dome piece
dome-piece
earpiece
end piece
eye-piece
eyepiece
face piece
fairy piece
fashioning piece
fashion piece
fieldpiece
five-piece door
flowerpiece
forepiece
fourpiece
fowling piece
franc-piece
frontipiece
frost piece
furpiece
ghost piece
give someone a piece of one's mind
gold piece
go to pieces
hairpiece
handpiece
haute piece
haute-piece
headpiece
heavy piece
heelpiece
hit piece
hit-piece
hold one's piece
how long is a piece of string
H-piece
in one piece
interpiece
Jesus piece
journeyman's piece
kneepiece
lace piece
legpiece
mailpiece
mainpiece
major piece
mantelpiece
mantel-piece
masking piece
master-piece
masterpiece
midpiece
minor piece
missing piece
mistresspiece
modesty piece
money piece
mood piece
mourning piece
mouthpiece
multipiece
museum piece
namepiece
neckpiece
nightpiece
nosepiece
nose piece
objective piece
of a piece
of a piece with
one-piece
opinion piece
parcel
party piece
period piece
piece and crisps
piece bag
piece-bag
piece broker
piece by piece
piece de resistance
piece-dye
piece goods
pieceless
piecemeal
piecen
piece of art
piece of ass
piece of cake
piece of clothing
piece of crap
piece of crumpet
piece of eight
piece of furniture
piece of garbage
piece of goods
piece of ground
piece of homework
piece of junk
piece of luck
piece of meat
piece of one
piece of paper
piece of piss
piece of poop
piece of pork
piece of rubbish
piece of shit
piece of shite
piece of someone
piece of tail
piece of the action
piece of the pie
piece of the puzzle
piece of trash
piece of work
piece picking
piecer
piece rate
piece system
piece table
piece to camera
piece up
piecewise
piece work
piecework
pieceworker
pitching piece
playing piece
playpiece
pocket piece
pole piece
polepiece
puff piece
raising piece
reason piece
return piece
ridgepiece
ringpiece
say one's piece
seapiece
sea piece
sea-piece
set-piece
set piece
shoulder piece
showpiece
sidepiece
side piece
siege piece
slam piece
solepiece
Staunton piece
straining piece
stringpiece
summer-piece
tailpiece
ten piece
testpiece
think piece
thought piece
three-piece
three-piece suit
three-piece suite
thumbpiece
time-piece
timepiece
toepiece
toppiece
top piece
tosspiece
touch piece
T-piece
trend piece
two-piece
two-piece sleeve
valley piece
vent-piece
volant piece
wall piece
workpiece
you want a piece of me
Translations: