piece
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom 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”); 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.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editpiece (plural pieces)
- A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.
- Synonyms: component, part; see also Thesaurus:piece
- Near-synonyms: aspect, portion
- I’d like another piece of pie.
- I've lost a piece of this jigsaw puzzle.
- 1624, John Donne, “17. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: […] A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, pages 415–416:
- No man is an Iland, intire of it ſelfe; euery man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]
- A single item belonging to a class of similar items.
- a piece of machinery
- a piece of software
- a useful piece of advice
- 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
- [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, […]
- (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.
- Synonym: game piece
- 1959, Hans Kmoch, Pawn Power in Chess, section I:
- Pawns, unlike pieces, move only in one direction: forward.
- A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
- a sixpenny piece
- An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:musical composition
- She played two beautiful pieces on the piano.
- An article published in the press.
- Today's paper has an interesting piece on medical research.
- 1979, Woody Allen, Manhattan, spoken by Isaac Davis (Woody Allen):
- No, I didn't read the piece on China's faceless masses, I was, I was checking out the lingerie ads.
- (military) An artillery gun.
- 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar[1], London, page 55:
- […] 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.
- (US, colloquial) A gun.
- He's packin' a piece!
- 2005, “Bloody War”, in Certified, performed by David Banner:
- I wanted peace, but now my piece is clearing out the block.
- 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 116:
- 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.
- 2008–2021, qntm, “We Need To Talk About Fifty-Five”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 9:
- "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.
- (US, Canada, colloquial, short for hairpiece) A toupee or wig, especially when worn by a man.
- The announcer is wearing a new piece.
- (Scotland, Ireland, UK, US, dialectal) A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.
- 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 46:
- 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.
- (US, colloquial, vulgar) A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail.
- I got a piece at lunchtime.
- (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).
- Ugh, my new computer is such a piece. I'm taking it back to the store tomorrow.
- (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.
- he got a piece of that one; she got a piece of the ball […] and it's going foul.
- (dated, sometimes derogatory) An individual; a person.
- a. 1587 (date written), Phillip Sidney [i.e., Philip Sidney], An Apologie for Poetrie. […], London: […] [James Roberts] for Henry Olney, […], published 1595, →OCLC; republished as Edward Arber, editor, An Apologie for Poetrie (English Reprints), London: [Alexander Murray & Son], 1 April 1868, →OCLC:
- If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]:
- Thy mother was a piece of virtue.
- 1825, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aid to Reflection:
- His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.
- (obsolete) A castle; a fortified building.
- 1569, Richard Grafton, “The Seuenth Age, and Seuenth Part of this Chronicle”, in A Chronicle at Large and Meere History of the Affayres of Englande […], volume I, London: […] Henry Denham, […], for Richarde Tottle and Humffrey Toye, →OCLC, page 83:
- 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, […]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto XIV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- the ranſack of that peece
- (US) A pacifier; a dummy.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pacifier
- (colloquial) A distance.
- a far piece
- located a fair piece away from their camp
- a fair piece off
- (rowing) A structured practice row, often used for performance evaluation.
- At practice we rowed four 5,000 meter pieces.
- That last piece was torture.
- An amount of work to be done at one time; a unit of piece work.
- (slang) An ounce of a recreational drug.
- 2017, Matt Meyer, Déqui Kioni-Sadiki, Sekou Odinga, Look for Me in the Whirlwind:
- 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.
Synonyms
edit- See also Thesaurus:piece
Derived terms
edit- afterpiece
- altarpiece
- apiece
- backpiece
- bail-piece
- bailpiece
- battle piece
- bits and pieces
- bonnet piece
- broadpiece
- by the piece
- cane piece
- centrepiece
- character piece
- cheekpiece
- chess-piece
- chess piece
- chimney-piece
- chimney piece
- chimneypiece
- codpiece
- conversation piece
- court piece
- creampuff piece
- cream puff piece
- crosspiece
- crown piece
- differential piece work
- dime piece
- doating-piece
- dome-piece
- dome piece
- earpiece
- end piece
- eyepiece
- eye-piece
- face piece
- fashion piece
- fieldpiece
- fowling piece
- frontipiece
- frost piece
- furpiece
- ghost piece
- give someone a piece of one's mind
- gold piece
- go to pieces
- hairpiece
- haute-piece
- haute piece
- headpiece
- heavy piece
- heavy piece
- heelpiece
- hit-piece
- hit piece
- hold one's piece
- how long is a piece of string
- H-piece
- in one piece
- Jesus piece
- journeyman's piece
- kneepiece
- lace piece
- major piece
- major piece
- mantelpiece
- mantel-piece
- masking piece
- masterpiece
- master-piece
- minor piece
- mistresspiece
- modesty piece
- money piece
- mood piece
- mourning piece
- museum piece
- neckpiece
- nosepiece
- nose piece
- objective piece
- of a piece
- of a piece with
- one-piece
- opinion piece
- parcel
- party piece
- period piece
- 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 trash
- piece of work
- piece rate
- piece system
- piece table
- piece to camera
- piece up
- piecewise
- piecework
- piece work
- pitching piece
- pocket piece
- pole piece
- puff piece
- raising piece
- reason piece
- return piece
- say one's piece
- sea-piece
- sea piece
- set-piece
- set piece
- shoulder piece
- showpiece
- side piece
- sidepiece
- siege piece
- slam piece
- Staunton piece
- straining piece
- stringpiece
- summer-piece
- tailpiece
- ten piece
- think piece
- thought piece
- three-piece suit
- three-piece suite
- time-piece
- timepiece
- top piece
- touch piece
- T-piece
- trend piece
- two-piece
- two-piece sleeve
- valley piece
- vent-piece
- volant piece
- wall piece
- workpiece
Descendants
edit- Belizean Creole: pees
- Sranan Tongo: pisi
- → Finnish: biisi
- → Irish: píosa
- → Japanese: ピース (pīsu)
- → Scottish Gaelic: pìos
Translations
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
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See also
editChess pieces in English · chess pieces, chessmen (see also: chess) (layout · text) | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
king | queen | rook, castle | bishop | knight | pawn |
Verb
editpiece (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).
- These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI):
- His adversaries […] pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.
- To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out.
- to piece a garment
- c. 1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
- 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
- (slang) To produce a work of graffiti more complex than a tag.
- 1994, William Upski Wimsatt, Bomb the Suburbs, revised second edition, Chicago: The Subway and Elevated Press Company, →ISBN, page 7:
- “It didn't rain, so I decided to come piece with you. […] ” We never finished that piece.
- 2009, Gregory J. Snyder, Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground, page 40:
- It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.
- 2009, Scape Martinez, GRAFF: The Art & Technique of Graffiti, page 124:
- It is often used to collect other writer's tags, and future plans for bombing and piecing.
Derived terms
editMiddle French
editEtymology
editFrom Old French piece, from Vulgar Latin *pettia, from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion”).
Noun
editpiece f (plural pieces)
- piece, bit, part
- moment (duration of time)
- 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 75:
- Grant piece dura celle meslee
- The battle lasted a long time
Descendants
editReferences
edit- piece on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
Old French
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Late Latin pettia, from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion”).
Noun
editpiece oblique singular, f (oblique plural pieces, nominative singular piece, nominative plural pieces)
- piece, bit, part
- c. 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:
- Que del hiaume une piece tranche.
- It cuts a piece off his helmet
Descendants
editPolish
editPronunciation
editNoun
editpiece m inan
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Gaulish
- English terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/iːs
- Rhymes:English/iːs/1 syllable
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Chess
- en:Military
- American English
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- en:Baseball
- English uncountable nouns
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- en:Rowing
- English verbs
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- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Middle French terms derived from Gaulish
- Middle French terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French feminine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Middle French terms with quotations
- Old French terms inherited from Late Latin
- Old French terms derived from Late Latin
- Old French terms derived from Gaulish
- Old French terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns
- Old French terms with quotations
- Polish 2-syllable words
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Polish/ɛt͡sɛ
- Rhymes:Polish/ɛt͡sɛ/2 syllables
- Polish non-lemma forms
- Polish noun forms