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piece

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: pièce

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin pecia, petia (“broken piece, fragment; parcel of land”), of uncertain origin. Possibly ultimately from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷezdis (“piece, portion, quota”). Compare Welsh peth (“thing, stuff, junk”), Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid (“part, portion”). Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza, Italian pezza, Italian pezzo. Displaced native Middle English sticche, stucche (“piece, fragment”) from Old English styċċe (“piece, portion”), whence also English styca.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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piece (plural pieces)

  1. A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.
    Synonyms: component, part; see also Thesaurus:piece
    Near-synonyms: aspect, portion
    I’d like another piece of pie.
    I've lost a piece of this jigsaw puzzle.
  2. A single item belonging to a class of similar items.
    a piece of machinery
    a piece of software
    a useful piece of advice
    • 1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 62:
      Meantime the frog had set off to tell God that when men died they would prefer not to come back to life again. Nobody had asked him to give that message; it was a piece of pure officiousness and impertinence on his part.
    • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 156:
      "Squalled at me that she owned the business and that she wouldn't take any back talk from me and that the piece wasn't for sale. What could I do?"
    • 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC:
      [The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […]
  4. (chess) One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; (by extension) those with which draughts, backgammon, and other similar board games are played.
    Synonym: game piece
    • 1959, Hans Kmoch, Pawn Power in Chess, section I:
      Pawns, unlike pieces, move only in one direction: forward.
    • 2022, “2023 Laws of Chess”, in FIDE‎[1], archived from the original on 16 March 2025, pages 4, 21:
      It is not permitted to move a piece to a square occupied by a piece of the same colour. […] Consequently, in the initial position the white pieces and pawns are placed on the first and second ranks; the black pieces and pawns on the eighth and seventh ranks.
  5. A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
    a sixpenny piece
  6. An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:musical composition
    period piece
    She played two beautiful pieces on the piano.
    • 2026 May, Hannah Martin, “Fancy Baskets”, in Architectural Digest, volume 83, number 4, page 97:
      Now, his pieces are in the collections of institutions like the Smithsonian American Art Museum and The Met, where they operate the way Frey always intended: as works of art.
  7. An article published in the press.
    Today's paper has an interesting piece on medical research.
    • 1979, Woody Allen, Manhattan, spoken by Isaac Davis (Woody Allen):
      No, I didn't read the piece on China's faceless masses, I was, I was checking out the lingerie ads.
  8. (military) An artillery gun.
    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar‎[2], London, page 55:
      […] all our Ammunition was spent. Those of us who had Money made Slugs of it; their next Shift was to take the middle Screws out of their Guns, and charge their Pieces with them.
  9. (US, colloquial) A gun.
    He's packin' a piece!
    • 2005, “Bloody War”, in Certified, performed by David Banner:
      I wanted peace, but now my piece is clearing out the block.
    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 116:
      It was do or be done. Get or get gotten. It was self-preservation like I'd never felt before, and when Rome passed me his piece I didn't even hesitate as I raised that bitch in the air and aimed it at Vyreen.
    • 2008–2021, qntm, “We Need To Talk About Fifty-Five”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, page 9:
      "This is just a cover story," Clay says to O5-8, not taking his eyes off Marion. "It's a good one, but she's had it worked out in advance."
      "Clay, lose the piece," says the O5.
      Grudgingly, Clay does so.
  10. (US, Canada, colloquial, short for hairpiece) A toupee or wig, especially when worn by a man.
    The announcer is wearing a new piece.
  11. (Scotland, Ireland, UK, US, dialectal) A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.
    • 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 46:
      My grannie came and gived them all a piece and jam and cups of water then I was to bring them back out to the street and play a game.
  12. (US, colloquial, vulgar) A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail.
    I got a piece at lunchtime.
  13. (US, colloquial, mildly vulgar, short for piece of crap/piece of shit) A shoddy or worthless object (usually applied to consumer products like vehicles or appliances).
    Ugh, my new computer is such a piece. I'm taking it back to the store tomorrow.
  14. (US, slang) A cannabis pipe.
  15. (baseball, uncountable) Used to describe a pitch that has been hit but not well, usually either being caught by the opposing team or going foul. Usually used in the past tense with get.
    he got a piece of that one;  she got a piece of the ball […] and it's going foul.
  16. (dated, sometimes derogatory) An individual; a person.
  17. (obsolete) A castle; a fortified building.
  19. (US) A pacifier; a dummy.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pacifier
  20. (colloquial) A distance or amount.
    a far piece
    located a fair piece away from their camp
    • 1923, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], “(please specify the page)”, in The Eyes of Max Carrados, London: Grant Richards, →OCLC:
      I never did believe that he was in it. He's a piece too mean-spirited to have the nerve.
  21. (rowing) A structured practice row, often used for performance evaluation.
    At practice we rowed four 5,000 meter pieces.
    That last piece was torture.
  22. An amount of work to be done at one time; a unit of piece work.
  23. (slang) An ounce of a recreational drug.
    • 2017, Matt Meyer, Déqui Kioni-Sadiki, Sekou Odinga, Look for Me in the Whirlwind:
      In fact, that was back during the era when you could buy a piece of heroin, an ounce of heroin, for $500 and cut it three times for a 3-to-1 cut on it and the dope would still be good.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Belizean Creole: pees
  • Sranan Tongo: pisi
  • → Finnish: biisi
  • → Irish: píosa
  • → Japanese: ピース (pīsu)
  • → Scottish Gaelic: pìos

Translations

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