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piece
[ pees ]
noun
- a separate or limited portion or quantity of something:
a piece of land;
a piece of chocolate.
Synonyms: fragment, scrap, segment, section
Antonyms: whole
- a quantity of some substance or material forming a single mass or body:
a nice piece of lumber.
- a more or less definite portion or quantity of a whole:
to cut a blueberry pie into six pieces.
- a particular length, as of certain goods prepared for the market:
cloth sold by the piece.
- an amount of work forming a single job:
to be paid by the piece and not by the hour.
- an example of workmanship, especially of artistic production, as a picture or a statue:
The museum has some interesting pieces by Picasso.
- a literary or journalistic composition, usually short, in prose or verse.
- a literary selection for recitation:
Each child had a chance to recite a piece.
- a musical composition.
- one of the parts that, when assembled, form a whole:
the pieces of a clock.
- an individual article of a set or collection:
a set of dishes containing 100 pieces.
- Games.
- one of the figures, disks, blocks, or the like, of wood, plastic, ivory, or other material, used in playing a board game.
- (in chess) a king, queen, bishop, knight, or rook; a superior man or figure, as distinguished from a pawn:
One of the opening principles in chess is piece development.
- a token, charm, or amulet:
a good-luck piece.
- an individual thing of a particular class or kind:
a piece of furniture;
a piece of drawing paper.
- an example, specimen, or instance of something:
a fine piece of workmanship.
- one of the parts into which a thing is destructively divided or broken; a part, fragment, or shred:
to tear a letter into pieces.
- Informal.
- a rifle, pistol, or other small firearm.
- a cannon or other unit of ordnance:
Each field piece was drawn by six horses.
- a coin:
a five-cent piece.
- Midland and Southern U.S. a distance:
I'm going down the road a piece.
- Chiefly North Midland U.S. a snack.
- Also called piece of ass. Slang: Vulgar.
- Usually Disparaging and Offensive. a person, usually a woman, considered as a sexual partner.
- sexual intercourse:
He's always looking for piece of ass.
verb (used with object)
- to mend (a garment, article, etc.) by adding, joining, or applying a piece or pieces; patch.
- to complete, enlarge, or extend by an added piece or something additional (often followed by out ):
to piece out a library with new books.
- to make by or as if by joining pieces (often followed by together ):
to piece a quilt;
to piece together a musical program.
- to join together, as pieces or parts:
to piece together the fragments of a broken dish.
- to join as a piece or addition to something:
to piece new wire into the cable.
- 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)
- Chiefly North Midland U.S. to eat small portions of food between meals; snack.
piece
/ piːs /
noun
- an amount or portion forming a separate mass or structure; bit
a piece of wood
- a small part, item, or amount forming part of a whole, esp when broken off or separated
a piece of bread
- a length by which a commodity is sold, esp cloth, wallpaper, etc
- an instance or occurrence
a piece of luck
- slang.a girl or woman regarded as an object of sexual attraction
a nice piece
- an example or specimen of a style or type, such as an article of furniture
a beautiful piece of Dresden china
- informal.an opinion or point of view
to state one's piece
- a literary, musical, or artistic composition
- a coin having a value as specified
fifty-pence piece
- a small object, often individually shaped and designed, used in playing certain games, esp board games
chess pieces
- a firearm or cannon
- ( in combination )
fowling-piece
- any chessman other than a pawn
- a short time or distance
down the road a piece
- dialect.
- a slice of bread or a sandwich
- a packed lunch taken to work, school, etc
- usually plural fragments of fleece wool See also oddment
- give someone a piece of one's mind informal.to criticize or censure someone frankly or vehemently
- go to pieces
- (of a person) to lose control of oneself; have a breakdown
- (of a building, organization, etc) to disintegrate
- nasty piece of work informal.a cruel or mean person
- of a pieceof the same kind; alike
- piece of cake informal.something easily obtained or achieved
verb
- often foll by together to fit or assemble piece by piece
- often foll by up to patch or make up (a garment) by adding pieces
- textiles to join (broken threads) during spinning
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Sensitive Note
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Other Words From
- mul·ti·piece adjective
- un·pieced adjective
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Word History and Origins
Origin of piece1
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Word History and Origins
Origin of piece1
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Idioms and Phrases
- go to pieces,
- to break into fragments.
- to lose control of oneself; become emotionally or physically upset:
When he flunked out of medical school he went to pieces.
- of a piece, of the same kind; harmonious; consistent. Also of one piece.
- piece of work, an extraordinary person, especially one who has extremely negative qualities:
She's a nasty piece of work!
- 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.
- give someone a piece of one's mind. mind ( def 39 ).
- piece of the action. action ( def 23 ).
More idioms and phrases containing piece
- 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
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Synonym Study
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Example Sentences
The well, ghost or no ghost, is certainly a piece of history with a bold presence.
My doctor insisted that once I filed this piece I lie down on my bed and not get out.
Last March they gave Airbus a huge piece of new business, ordering 169 A320s and 65 of the slightly larger A321.
The attempt to “breed back” the Auroch of Teutonic legend was of a piece with the Nazi obsession with racial purity and eugenics.
However, an article designed to act as a tie-in to the piece has been published as planned in the BBC magazine Radio Times.
I assure you, no matter how beautifully we play any piece, the minute Liszt plays it, you would scarcely recognize it!
I was busy loading the piece when an exclamation of surprise from one of the men made me look up.
There were two battalions, together about a thousand men; and they brought a field-piece with them.
She got up and stood in front of the fire, having her hand on the chimney-piece and looking down at the blaze.
With a groan, wrung from the very depths of his heart, he tossed the man a gold-piece; another to the woman.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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