▪ I. piecemeal, adv. (n., a.)
(ˈpiːsmiːl)
Forms: see piece n. and meal n.2
[ME. f. pece, piece + -mêle, -meal. Taking the place of OE. styccemǽlum; pece-mêle being a later word has not the OE. form in -mǽlum, nor an early ME. in -mêlen. The later amplification by pece-mele follows other words in -mele with be, by (e.g. dropmeal, flockmeal, footmeal, heapmeal), and introduces the quasi-n. use B. The example in -s (1 β) was prob. due to the plural notion rather than an instance of the adverbial genitive.]
A. adv.
1. One part or piece at a time; piece by piece, gradually, by degrees; separately, by pieces.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5624 Þat folc to drou þat traytour, ech lime pece mele. c 1440 Jacob's Well 151 Þei etyn a man noȝt al hole, but pece-mele. 1513 More Rich. III (1883) 85 Miles Forest at sainct Martens pecemele [a 1548 Hall Chron., Rich. III 28 by pece meale] rotted awaye. 1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 125/1 Now it remaineth that we looke peecemeale vnto these wordes. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 5 The stone couering him is compassed with a grate, least it should bee broken and carried away peece-meale by Passengers. 1773 Burke Corr. (1844) I. 423 The business will be done covertly and piecemeal. 1865 Kingsley Herew. xvii, He means to conquer England piece-meal. 1885 Sir J. Pearson in Law Rep. 29 Ch. Div. 453 A party is not allowed to bring his case before the Court piecemeal. |
| β 1698 Norris Pract. Disc. IV. 424 To have taken him Piecemeals, Paragraph by Paragraph, and to have consider'd every single Objection distinctly. |
b. With by (rarely in). (Transitional to B.)
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde 100 Lette it be cut out by pese mele. 1566 Drant Horace To Rdr. 3, I..haue dispatched it by piece meale, or inche meale. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. Pref., Wks. 1851 VIII. 5, I am forced to write by piece-meal, and break off almost every hour. 1693 W. Freke Sel. Ess. xix. 114 They that can bear Pedantry in Piece-meal, will be even sick when they peruse his Masse of it. 1796 Jefferson Writ. (1859) IV. 130 It is better to do the whole work once for all, than to be recurring to it by piece-meal. 1868 E. Edwards Ralegh I. viii. 129 After previous alienations by piecemeal. |
† c. in piecemeal: piece by piece, in detail. (Cf. B.) Obs.
| 1561 T. Hoby tr Castiglione's Courtyer iii. (1577) R v, To reason thus in peecemeale of these rules..were a taking of an infinite matter in hand. Ibid. iv. V iij b, [To] vnderstand in peecemeale whatsoeuer belongeth to hys people. |
2. Piece from piece; into or in pieces or fragments: with break, tear, cut, etc.
| 1570 Googe Pop. Kingd. i. (1880) 7 Who rather will be peecemeale torne than once their prince forsake. c 1580 Sidney Ps. ii. 21 Bruse Thou shalt and peecemeale breake These men like potshards weake. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. i. 751 I'll be torn piece-meal by a Horse, E'er I'll take you for better or worse. 1712 E. Cooke Voy. S. Sea 75 Hewing them Piece-meal, and delighting in their Blood. 1826 Scott Woodst. viii, To be now pulled asunder, broken piecemeal and reduced. |
† b. With in. Obs. (Cf. B.)
| 1577 Stanyhurst Descr. Irel. in Holinshed (1808) VI. 40 The fishmongers were forced to hacke it in gobbets, and so to carrie it in peecemeale throughout the countrie. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. xiii. 69 Revolt, or I'll in piece-meal tear thy flesh. 1704 Swift T. Tub ix. 178 Is any Student tearing his Straw in piece-meal, Swearing and Blaspheming? |
† B. quasi-n. (with pl.) A small piece, portion, or fragment; chiefly in phrase by piecemeals, also at piecemeals, in piecemeals, into piecemeals. Obs.
| 1577 Whetstone Life Gascoigne xxviii, By peece meales care so wrought me vnder foot. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 268 Buccellatio is dividing into gobbets, or by peece-meals. 1616 J. Maitland in Scot. Hist. Soc. Misc. (1904) 171 He choosit rather to blame, tax and charge my father..in hidlings and at peece-male. 1642 T. Goodwin Zerubbabels Enc. 17 That..perfection of light which the Apostolicall times had..by piece-meals and degrees. 1651 R. Vaughan in Ussher's Lett. (1686) 562 To register any thing to the purpose..that I could come by, (some few piecemeals excepted). 1657 W. Rand tr. Gassendi's Life Peiresc ii. 294 Being torn into piece-meales. 1762 Sterne Tr. Shandy V. iii, Those are falling..by piece-meals to decay. |
C. adj. (attrib. use of the adv.). Consisting or done in pieces or by instalments; done bit by bit.
| 1600 Rowlands Lett. Humours Blood vi. 75 A pox of peecemeale drinking. 1713 Derham Phys. Theol. To Rdr., None..have done it otherwise than in a transient, piece⁓meal Manner. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. 640 What tortures and piecemeal executions have not been practised by tyrants and persecutors. 1831 J. W. Croker in Croker Papers 9 Oct., Giving no opinion on piecemeal reform. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 184 Our history just at this time has to be put together in so piecemeal a way. |
▪ II. ˈpiecemeal, v. Now rare.
[f. prec.]
trans. To divide or distribute piecemeal; to dismember. Also const. out. Hence ˈpiecemealing vbl. n.
| 1611 Cotgr., Emmenuiser, to make small, to peecemeale, to reduce into little parcels, or peeces. Ibid., Parcelé, peecemealed; cut, or made, into parcels. 1632 Heywood 1st Pt. Iron Age v. i. Wks. 1874 III. 338 My seuen-fold Targe With thousand gashes peece-meald from mine arme. 1655 W. Gurnall Chr. in Arm. i. 20 The glory of the work shall not be crumbled, and piece-mealed out, some to God, and some to the Creature. a 1700 Oxford Laureat in Johnson L. P., Yalden, Had he ta'en the whole ode, as he took it piece-mealing, They had fin'd him but ten-pence at most. 1718 Entertainer No. 21. 144 The Piece-meal'd Quarters..exposed to the four Corners of the Earth. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xiii. i, The heavy, unread, folio lump, which long had dozed on the dusty shelf, piece-mealed into numbers, runs nimbly through the nation. 1853 Tait's Mag. XX. 259 The division, the piece-mealing of Germany, is the strength of Russia. 1975 Washington Post 6 Sept. a2/4 To announce even the topic of the hearings would result in ‘prematurely piecemealing the information out’,—he said. |