piece

[ pees ]

/ pis /

noun

a separate or limited portion or quantity of something: a piece of land; a piece of chocolate.

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.

Chess, Checkers.

one of the figures, disks, blocks, or the like, of wood, ivory, or other material, used in playing, as on a board or table.
(in chess) a superior man, as distinguished from a pawn: to take a rook, a bishop, and other pieces.

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.

Military.

a soldier's rifle, pistol, etc.
a cannon or other unit of ordnance: field piece.

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: He finally got himself a piece of ass.
sexual intercourse: He's always looking for piece of ass.

verb (used with object), pieced, piec·ing.

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), pieced, piec·ing.

Chiefly North Midland U.S. to eat small portions of food between meals; snack.

Nearby words

pie-dog, pie-eyed, pie-faced, piebald, piebaldness, piece, piece by piece, piece goods, piece of ass, piece of business, piece of cake

Idioms

give someone a piece of one's mind. mind(def 38).

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 the action. action(def 23).

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.

Origin of piece

1175–1225; Middle English pece < Old French < Gaulish *pettia; akin to Breton pez piece, Welsh, Cornish peth thing

SYNONYMS FOR piece

1 section, segment, scrap, fragment.

23 augment.

ANTONYMS FOR piece

1 whole.

Related forms

mul·ti·piece, adjectiveun·pieced, adjective

Can be confused

peace piece

Synonym study

1. See part.

Usage note

The meanings “sexual intercourse” and “sexual partner” are both vulgar slang. When referring to a person, the term piece is usually used with disparaging intent and perceived as insulting.

Word story

English piece comes from Middle English pece, peece, piece, from Anglo-French peece, pees, peice and Old French pece, pice. Other Western Romance languages share variations of the same word: Provençal pessa, pesa, Spanish pieza, Catalan peça, Portuguese peça, Italian pezza. These Romance forms correspond to Medieval Latin pecia, petia “a bit, portion, coin” (compare two bits , a dated American slang term for "twenty-five cents"). The Medieval Latin form has no Latin origin but probably originates in a Gaulish noun pettiā, which explains why there is no cognate word in Romanian ( piece in Romanian is bucată ).
The American colloquialism wanna get a piece of me? (a challenge to a fight) dates back to 1953; piece in the derogatory sense “girl or woman (regarded as a sex object)” dates back to the 16th century; piece of ass to 1857; and (nasty) piece of work dates from the 18th century.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for piece out (1 of 2)

piece out

verb (tr, adverb)

to extend by adding pieces

to cause to last longer by using only a small amount at a timeto piece out rations

British Dictionary definitions for piece out (2 of 2)

piece

/ (piːs) /

noun

an amount or portion forming a separate mass or structure; bita piece of wood

a small part, item, or amount forming part of a whole, esp when broken off or separateda piece of bread

a length by which a commodity is sold, esp cloth, wallpaper, etc

an instance or occurrencea piece of luck

slang a girl or woman regarded as an object of sexual attractiona nice piece

an example or specimen of a style or type, such as an article of furniturea beautiful piece of Dresden china

informal an opinion or point of viewto state one's piece

a literary, musical, or artistic composition

a coin having a value as specifiedfifty-pence piece

a small object, often individually shaped and designed, used in playing certain games, esp board gameschess pieces

a firearm or cannon
(in combination)fowling-piece

any chessman other than a pawn

US and Canadian a short time or distancedown the road a piece

Scot and English dialect

a slice of bread or a sandwich
a packed lunch taken to work, school, etc

(usually plural) Australian and NZ fragments of fleece woolSee also oddment (def. 2)

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 British informal a cruel or mean person

of a piece of the same kind; alike

piece of cake informal something easily obtained or achieved

verb (tr)

(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

Word Origin for piece

C13 pece, from Old French, of Gaulish origin; compare Breton pez piece, Welsh peth portion

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with piece out

piece

In addition to the idioms beginning with piece

piece by piece
piece of ass
piece of cake
piece of change
piece of one's mind
piece of the action
piece together

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