piece goods

American  

plural noun

1. goods, especially fabrics, sold at retail by linear measure.

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piece goods British  

plural noun

1. Also called: yard goods.  goods, esp fabrics, made in standard widths and lengths

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Etymology

Origin of piece goods

First recorded in 1655–65

Example Sentences

In 1941, when piece goods were scarce, Kahn took a chance on Manchester.

From Time Magazine Archive

The cotton spinning of individual Gandhi followers was said to be seriously affecting the British cotton piece goods trade � In Japan, cotton mills were curtailing production.

From Time Magazine Archive

Boldly the supervisor ordered seized vast quantities of smuggled Japanese and Korean imports, which include rice, bean-cake, bean-oil, cotton piece goods, sugar and cement.

From Time Magazine Archive

Inexpensive needles, thread, piece goods, fancy notions, buttons and furbelows, even snake oil, but these were what the pioneers needed � the thousand tiny common denominators of civilization.

From Time Magazine Archive

She had once gone to the ladies’ room in the morning and been found by Mr. Gonzalez late that afternoon asleep on a pile of piece goods in the factory loft.

From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole