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Definition of piece - 8 dictionary results

piece

  [pees] noun, verb, pieced, piec⋅ing.
Use piece in a Sentence
–noun
1. a separate or limited portion or quantity of something: a piece of land; a piece of chocolate.
2. a quantity of some substance or material forming a single mass or body: a nice piece of lumber.
3. a more or less definite portion or quantity of a whole: to cut a blueberry pie into six pieces.
4. a particular length, as of certain goods prepared for the market: cloth sold by the piece.
5. an amount of work forming a single job: to be paid by the piece and not by the hour.
6. an example of workmanship, esp. of artistic production, as a picture or a statue: The museum has some interesting pieces by Picasso.
7. a literary composition, usually short, in prose or verse.
8. a literary selection for recitation: Each child had a chance to recite a piece.
9. a musical composition.
10. one of the parts that, when assembled, form a whole: the pieces of a clock.
11. an individual article of a set or collection: a set of dishes containing 100 pieces.
12. Chess, Checkers.
a. one of the figures, disks, blocks, or the like, of wood, ivory, or other material, used in playing, as on a board or table.
b. (in chess) a superior man, as distinguished from a pawn: to take a rook, a bishop, and other pieces.
13. a token, charm, or amulet: a good-luck piece.
14. an individual thing of a particular class or kind: a piece of furniture; a piece of drawing paper.
15. an example, specimen, or instance of something: a fine piece of workmanship.
16. one of the parts into which a thing is destructively divided or broken; a part, fragment, or shred: to tear a letter into pieces.
17. Military.
a. a soldier's rifle, pistol, etc.
b. a cannon or other unit of ordnance: field piece.
18. a coin: a five-cent piece.
19. Midland and Southern U.S. a distance: I'm going down the road a piece.
20. Chiefly North Midland U.S. a snack.
21. Also called piece of ass. Slang: Vulgar.
a. coitus.
b. a person considered as a partner in coitus.
–verb (used with object)
22. to mend (a garment, article, etc.) by adding, joining, or applying a piece or pieces; patch.
23. to complete, enlarge, or extend by an added piece or something additional (often fol. by out): to piece out a library with new books.
24. to make by or as if by joining pieces (often fol. by together): to piece a quilt; to piece together a musical program.
25. to join together, as pieces or parts: to piece together the fragments of a broken dish.
26. to join as a piece or addition to something: to piece new wire into the cable.
27. to assemble into a meaningful whole by combining available facts, information, details, etc.: He pieced the story together after a lot of effort.
–verb (used without object)
28. Chiefly North Midland U.S. to eat small portions of food between meals; snack.
—Idioms
29. give someone a piece of one's mind. mind (def. 35).
30. go to pieces,
a. to break into fragments.
b. to lose control of oneself; become emotionally or physically upset: When he flunked out of medical school he went to pieces.
31. of a piece, of the same kind; harmonious; consistent. Also, of one piece.
32. piece of the action. action (def. 23).
33. speak one's piece, to express one's opinion; reveal one's thoughts upon a subject: I decided to speak my piece whether they liked it or not.
Origin:
1175–1225; ME pece < OF < Gaulish *pettia; akin to Breton pez piece, Welsh, Cornish peth thing

Synonyms:
1. section, segment, scrap, fragment. See part. 23. augment.

Antonyms:
1. whole.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To piece
piece   (pēs)   
n.  
  1. A thing considered as a unit or an element of a larger thing, quantity, or class; a portion: a piece of string.
  2. A portion or part that has been separated from a whole: a piece of cake.
  3. An object that is one member of a group or class: a piece of furniture.
  4. An artistic, musical, or literary work or composition: "They are lively and well-plotted pieces, both in prose" (Tucker Brooke).
  5. An instance; a specimen: a piece of sheer folly.
  6. A declaration of one's opinions or findings: speak one's piece.
  7. A coin: a ten-cent piece.
  8. Games
    1. One of the counters or figures used in playing various board games.
    2. Any one of the chess figures other than a pawn.
  9. Slang A firearm, especially a rifle.
  10. Informal A given distance: "There was farm country down the road on the right a piece" (James Agee).
  11. Vulgar Slang A sexually attractive person.
tr.v.   pieced, piec·ing, piec·es
  1. To mend by adding pieces or a piece to.
  2. To join or unite the pieces of: He pieced together the vase. She pieced together an account of what had gone on during the stormy meeting.

[Middle English pece, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *pettia, probably of Celtic origin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Piece

Piece\, n. [OE. pece, F. pi[`e]ce, LL. pecia, petia, petium, probably of Celtic origin; cf. W. peth a thing, a part, portion, a little, Armor. pez, Gael. & Ir. cuid part, share. Cf. Petty.]

1. A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion; as, a piece of sugar; to break in pieces.

Bring it out piece by piece. --Ezek. xxiv. 6.

2. A definite portion or quantity, as of goods or work; as, a piece of broadcloth; a piece of wall paper.

3. Any one thing conceived of as apart from other things of the same kind; an individual article; a distinct single effort of a series; a definite performance; especially: (a) A literary or artistic composition; as, a piece of poetry, music, or statuary. (b) A musket, gun, or cannon; as, a battery of six pieces; a following piece. (c) A coin; as, a sixpenny piece; -- formerly applied specifically to an English gold coin worth 22 shillings. (d) A fact; an item; as, a piece of news; a piece of knowledge.

4. An individual; -- applied to a person as being of a certain nature or quality; often, but not always, used slightingly or in contempt. "If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him." --Sir P. Sidney.

Thy mother was a piece of virtue. --Shak.

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

5. (Chess) One of the superior men, distinguished from a pawn.

6. A castle; a fortified building. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Of a piece, of the same sort, as if taken from the same whole; like; -- sometimes followed by with. --Dryden.

Piece of eight, the Spanish piaster, formerly divided into eight reals.

To give a piece of one's mind to, to speak plainly, bluntly, or severely to (another). --Thackeray.

Piece broker, one who buys shreds and remnants of cloth to sell again.

Piece goods, goods usually sold by pieces or fixed portions, as shirtings, calicoes, sheetings, and the like.

Piece

Piece\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pieced; p. pr. & vb. n. Piecing.]

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

2. To unite; to join; to combine. --Fuller.

His adversaries . . . pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him. --Fuller.

Piece

Piece\, v. i. To unite by a coalescence of parts; to fit together; to join. "It pieced better." --Bacon.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : piece
Spanish: trozo, pedazo,
German: das Stück,
Japanese: 一片
More Translations »

piece 
c.1225, "fixed amount, measure, portion," from O.Fr. piece (11c.), from V.L. *pettia, probably from Gaulish (cf. Welsh peth "thing," Breton pez "piece"), from O.Celt. base *pett-. Sense of "portable firearm" first recorded 1581; that of "chessman" is from 1562. Meaning "person regarded as a sex object" is first recorded 1785 (cf. piece of ass, human beings colloquially called piece of flesh from 1593; cf. also L. scortum "bimbo, anyone available for a price," lit. "skin," dim. scortillum "bimbette"). Meaning "a portion of a distance" is from 1612; that of "literary composition" dates from 1533. The verb meaning "to mend by adding pieces" is recorded from c.1380; sense of "to join, unite, put together" is from 1483. Piece of my mind is from 1572. The Mod.Fr. form is reborrowed into Eng. in pièce de résistance (1839), originally "the most substantial dish in a meal." Piece-work dates from 1549. Piece of work "remarkable person" echoes Hamlet. Piece of Eight is the old name for the Sp. dollar (1610) of the value of 8 reals.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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piece

A part of a large security offering.

Wall Street Words: An A to Z Guide to Investment Terms by David L. Scott.
Copyright © 2003. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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piece

In addition to the idioms beginning with piece, also see all in one piece; conversation piece; go to pieces; museum piece; of a piece; pick apart (to pieces); pick up the pieces; puff piece; say one's piece; think piece; thrill to pieces; to pieces; villain of the piece.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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