piece

[ pees ]

noun

1. a separate or limited portion or quantity of something:

   a piece of land;

   a piece of chocolate.

   Synonyms: fragment, scrap, segment, section

   Antonyms: whole

2. a quantity of some substance or material forming a single mass or body:

   a nice piece of lumber.

3. a more or less definite portion or quantity of a whole:

   to cut a blueberry pie into six pieces.

4. a particular length, as of certain goods prepared for the market:

   cloth sold by the piece.

5. an amount of work forming a single job:

   to be paid by the piece and not by the hour.

6. an example of workmanship, especially of artistic production, as a picture or a statue:

   The museum has some interesting pieces by Picasso.

7. a literary or journalistic composition, usually short, in prose or verse.
8. a literary selection for recitation:

   Each child had a chance to recite a piece.

9. a musical composition.
10. one of the parts that, when assembled, form a whole:

    the pieces of a clock.

11. an individual article of a set or collection:

    a set of dishes containing 100 pieces.

12. Games.
    1. one of the figures, disks, blocks, or the like, of wood, plastic, ivory, or other material, used in playing a board game.
    2. (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.

13. a token, charm, or amulet:

    a good-luck piece.

14. an individual thing of a particular class or kind:

    a piece of furniture;

    a piece of drawing paper.

15. an example, specimen, or instance of something:

    a fine piece of workmanship.

16. one of the parts into which a thing is destructively divided or broken; a part, fragment, or shred:

    to tear a letter into pieces.

17. Informal.
    1. a rifle, pistol, or other small firearm.
    2. a cannon or other unit of ordnance:

       Each field piece was drawn by six horses.

18. a coin:

    a five-cent piece.

19. Midland and Southern U.S. a distance:

    I'm going down the road a piece.

20. Chiefly North Midland U.S. a snack.
21. Also called piece of ass. Slang: Vulgar.
    1. Usually Disparaging and Offensive. a person, usually a woman, considered as a sexual partner.
    2. sexual intercourse:

       He's always looking for piece of ass.

verb (used with object)

, pieced, piec·ing.

1. to mend (a garment, article, etc.) by adding, joining, or applying a piece or pieces; patch.
2. to complete, enlarge, or extend by an added piece or something additional (often followed by out ):

   to piece out a library with new books.

3. to make by or as if by joining pieces (often followed by together ):

   to piece a quilt;

   to piece together a musical program.

4. to join together, as pieces or parts:

   to piece together the fragments of a broken dish.

5. to join as a piece or addition to something:

   to piece new wire into the cable.

6. 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.

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

piece

/ piːs /

noun

1. an amount or portion forming a separate mass or structure; bit

   a piece of wood

2. a small part, item, or amount forming part of a whole, esp when broken off or separated

   a piece of bread

3. a length by which a commodity is sold, esp cloth, wallpaper, etc
4. an instance or occurrence

   a piece of luck

5. slang.
   a girl or woman regarded as an object of sexual attraction

   a nice piece

6. an example or specimen of a style or type, such as an article of furniture

   a beautiful piece of Dresden china

7. informal.
   an opinion or point of view

   to state one's piece

8. a literary, musical, or artistic composition
9. a coin having a value as specified

   fifty-pence piece

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

    chess pieces

11. 1. a firearm or cannon
    2. ( in combination )

       fowling-piece

12. any chessman other than a pawn
13. a short time or distance

    down the road a piece

14. dialect.
    1. a slice of bread or a sandwich
    2. a packed lunch taken to work, school, etc
15. usually plural fragments of fleece wool See also oddment
16. give someone a piece of one's mind informal.
    to criticize or censure someone frankly or vehemently
17. go to pieces
    1. (of a person) to lose control of oneself; have a breakdown
    2. (of a building, organization, etc) to disintegrate
18. nasty piece of work informal.
    a cruel or mean person
19. of a piece
    of the same kind; alike
20. piece of cake informal.
    something easily obtained or achieved

verb

1. often foll by together to fit or assemble piece by piece
2. often foll by up to patch or make up (a garment) by adding pieces
3. textiles to join (broken threads) during spinning

Sensitive 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.

Other Words From

• mul·ti·piece adjective
• un·pieced adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of piece¹

First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English pece, pes(e), pesse, from Old French, from unattested Gaulish pettia; akin to Breton pez “piece,” Welsh, Cornish peth “thing”

Word History and Origins

Origin of piece¹

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

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. go to pieces,
   1. to break into fragments.
   2. to lose control of oneself; become emotionally or physically upset:

      When he flunked out of medical school he went to pieces.

2. of a piece, of the same kind; harmonious; consistent. Also of one piece.
3. piece of work, an extraordinary person, especially one who has extremely negative qualities:

   She's a nasty piece of work!

4. 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.

5. give someone a piece of one's mind. mind ( def 39 ).
6. 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

Synonym Study

See part.

Example Sentences

The study is an important piece of the puzzle for finding new treatments for dementia, according to the researchers.

From Science Daily

"Each gene was like a single word. However, there was a piece of critical information lacking: transcription initiation sites for individual genes."

From Science Daily

The highs are most frequently supplied by the film’s magnificent musical numbers, which boast the stellar choreography typical of Chu’s work while highlighting the movie’s meticulous production design and practical set pieces.

From Salon

In a perspective piece published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Peterson lays out the rationale behind this paradigm shift.

From Science Daily

Andrew Friedman did such a spectacular job in shaping such a special team, it would verge on heartbreaking if he allows some of their important free-agent pieces to go their separate ways.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• assemble
• compose

How Do You Spell Piece?

Spelling tips for piece

The word piece is hard to spell because it’s pronounced exactly the same as the word peace. It can be difficult to remember whether the i or e should come first.  

How to spell piece: The easiest way to remember how to spell piece is with the classic mnemonic device: “I before E, except after C, except when it’s pronounced like a long A, as in neighbor and weigh.” 

To remember whether you should use peace or piece, keep in mind that peace is for Everybody and Anybody (pEAce), while a piece is only for some.