Piece
Piece , noun
[Old English pece, French pièce, Late Latin pecia, petia, petium, probably of Celtic origin; compare Welsh peth a thing, a part, portion, a little, Armor. pez, Gael. & Ir. cuid part, share. Compare 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.
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
(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.
Thy mother was a piece of virtue.
His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.
5.
(Chess) One of the superior men, distinguished from a pawn.
6.
A castle; a fortified building. [Obsolete] — Spenser
Collocations (5)
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 , transitive verb
1.
To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; as, to piece a garment; -- often with out. — Shakespeare
2.
To unite; to join; to combine. — Fuller
His adversaries... pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.
Piece , intransitive verb
To unite by a coalescence of parts; to fit together; to join.
It pieced better.