piece

▪ I. piece, n.
    (piːs)
    Forms: 3–7 pece (3–5 pees, 4 pise, 4–5 pice, peis, 5 pes, peyce, peese, 5–6 pes(s, pesse); 5– piece, (5 pyece, 5–8 peace, 6 pease, peise, peyss, (Sc. peax), pysse, 6–7 peece, 6–8 peice). Plural in ME. sometimes the same as the sing.
    [ME. pece, in 15th c. piece, a. OF. pece (1241 in Godef.), piece (Roland, 11th c.), mod.F. pièce = Pr. peza, pessa, Sp. pieza, Pg. pe{cced}a, It. pezza piece of cloth, rag, beside pezzo ‘piece’ in other senses. The Romanic forms point to late L. types *pettia, *pettium: cf. early med.L. pecia, petia, also pecium, petium, ‘broken piece, fragment’, also ‘piece of land’. Ulterior origin obscure: see Note below. The sense-development is in many points uncertain, though most of the senses occur also in French: the following arrangement is to a great extent provisional.]
    I. In general sense; or followed by of.
    1. a. A separate or detached portion, part, bit, or fragment of anything; one of the distinct portions of which anything is composed; now spec. one of the irregular sections of a jig-saw puzzle. Freq. fig.

a 1225 St. Marher. 122 Þe scourgen [were] smerte & kene; Bi peces þe flesch orn adoun, þe bones were isene. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1086 His swerd brak in þe fiȝt And in morauntes brain Bileued a pece briȝt. a 1450 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 601/11 Pecia, a pece, or lytyl part of a thyng. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 25 That day..is roosted a whole Oxe..a piece whereof is serued to the Emperours table. 1570 Levins Manip. 48/15 A Peece, pars, partis. 1605 Camden Rem. 189 In delivering of livery and seisin a peece of the earth is taken. 1653 Walton Angler iv. 108, I think the best [rods] are of two pieces. 1713 M. Henry Catech. Youth Wks. 1853 II. 169/1 Gave them a piece of a honeycomb to eat. 1847 Carpenter Zool. §603 The tegumentary skeleton of Insects, that is to say, the hard skin of these animals... We see in it a great number of pieces, which are sometimes soldered (as it were) together; whilst in other instances they are united by soft portions of the skin. Ibid. §605 The head is formed only by a single piece. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXII. 675/1 The commonest of all puzzles are coloured maps, pictures (‘jig-saw’) or designs, dissected into numerous variously shaped pieces, to be fitted together to form the complete design. 1925 E. Wallace Fellowship of Frog xix. 144 She's only another little bit of the jigsaw puzzle that will fall into place when we fix the piece that's shaped like a Frog. 1935, etc. [see jig-saw n. b].

fig. 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Imperfect Sympathies, They are content with fragments and scattered pieces of Truth. 1935 W. G. Hardy Father Abraham 140 Quite suddenly the pieces seemed to fit together. 1955 H. Kurnitz Invasion of Privacy (1956) ix. 67 Mr. Fenn think[s] that there might be something about this case he doesn't understand, a missing piece somewhere. It spoils the picture for him. 1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex i. 5 The study of homosexuality and its moral problems could not be divorced from a survey of the whole field of sexual activity: a few pieces of the jigsaw-puzzle could not be identified without the whole picture. 1973 G. Scott Water Horse (1974) xxii. 152 If Oliver were really involved in this organization, then certain jigsaw pieces could fall more satisfactorily into place. 1977 P. Cosgrave Cheyney's Law vii. 65 He had a name... If pieces were not exactly falling into place, there was at least movement.

    b. in pieces: broken, divided, disintegrated, in fragments: fig. divided, at variance. in, into pieces, † on pieces, † a pieces: into fragments, asunder. to take in pieces: to separate the parts of, to analyse.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 375 Is scolle to brec in peces manion. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1456 Eft þat spere tok he;..It brast on peces þre. 13.. K. Alis. 2999 A-two peces he hadde him gurd. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 5591 Þe stede ful doun on peces tweye. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 244 He kut it into pieces twelve. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 62 note, The wal of þe temple to-cleef euene a two peces. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 10305 Hir heer was rent & torne In pes. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) x. 38 Men..paynd þam to breke þe stane in pecez. 1470–85 Malory Arthur i. xxiii. 71 But the swerd of the knyght smote kyng arthurs swerd in two pyeces. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxxiv. 227 Ther man myght see hir baners displayed hakked in to pyeces. 1562 Pilkington Expos. Abdias Pref. 9 The forther that the bowe is drawen, the sooner it flies in pieces. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa iii. 133 The butchers cut their flesh a peeces, and sell it by weight. 1659 Burton's Diary (1828) IV. 480 This takes in pieces your whole form. c 1680 Hickeringill Hist. Whiggism Wks. 1716 I. ii. 154 If we offer to tear them apieces. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 169 A fair large Church..where..the Body of St. Catherine is in pieces. 1754 Richardson Grandison IV. iv. 21 We are all in pieces: we were in the midst of a feud, when you arrived. 1761–2 Hume Hist. Eng. (1806) IV. lxi. 566 The instrument of government was taken in pieces, and examined, article by article. 1843 Macaulay Lays Anc. Rome, Virginia 264 Must I be torn in pieces? 1876 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 193 When they submitted, their army..at once fell in pieces.

    c. to pieces: into fragments, asunder; also fig. to go or come to pieces: to break up, dissolve, lose cohesion. to take to pieces: to separate into its parts. to hit, huff, puzzle, vex, etc., to pieces: to bring by such action to a state of distraction, disorganization, confusion, or rout.
    By omission of come, gone, torn, or other pple., to pieces is sometimes = ‘in pieces’: see quots. 1622, 1690.

c 1290 S. Eng. Leg. I. 46/24 And to-brak it al to smale peces. 13.. Cursor M. 6542 (Cott.) To pees [Gött. etc. in pecis] he þam brak right þar. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 8386, I schal ȝow hewe al to pece. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon cxvii. 419 Our shyp brast all to pecys. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virgin Martyr ii. iii, The smock of her charity is now all to pieces. 1661 Boyle Exam. ii. (1682) 6, I thus take Mr. Hobbs his Argument to pieces. 1667 Pepys Diary 29 Aug. (1974) VIII. 406 The Court is at this day all to pieces, every man of a faction of one sort or another. 1690 J. Wilson Belphegor iv. i, They [friends] 're all to pieces. 1700 Congreve Way of World i. 6 She once us'd me with that Insolence, that in Revenge I took her to pieces. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 253 Pulling the Building to pieces after it is begun. 1727 Philip Quarll (1816) 73 The flat-bottomed boat..he had taken to-pieces. 1741 Richardson Pamela I. 144 She has huffed poor Mr. Williams all to-pieces. 1765 Cowper Wks. (1837) XV. 1, I am puzzled to pieces about it. 1832 F. A. Kemble Jrnl. in Rec. of Girlhood (1878) III. 215, I thought I should have come to pieces in his hands, as the housemaids say of what they break. 1883 R. Buchanan Love me for Ever i. ii. 28 A large ship had gone to pieces on the Wantle reef. 1890 Daily News 11 July 3/6 The Oxonians went all to pieces after passing the post. 1892 ‘Mark Twain’ Amer. Claimant xvii. 173 The hackman will just go all to pieces when he sees that. 1902 Daily Chron. 7 Aug. 3/6 To analyse anything implies..the taking it to pieces in a chemical sense. 1923 H. Crane Let. 21 July (1965) 140 The center of such pain as would tear me to pieces to tell you about. 1925 W. S. Maugham Painted Veil xiv. 47 When he has bad cards he goes all to pieces. 1933 J. Hilton Lost Horizon ix. 196 You were so damned good in that Baskul affair that I can hardly believe you're the same man. You seem to have gone all to pieces. 1957 A. MacNab Bulls of Iberia ii. 26 Once a grand herd under the old Duke, now gone all to pieces. 1976 Daily Record (Glasgow) 22 Nov. 27/1 How can a team perform so well, score a goal, then go to pieces?

    d. all to pieces: completely, through and through, from beginning to end. dial. and U.S.

1839 C. F. Briggs Adventures H. Franco I. iv. 27 ‘Do you know the name of that individual who helped you to steak?’ ‘I know him all to pieces,’ replied the gentleman. 1840 C. F. Hoffman Greyslaer I. i. x. 114, I know the ground here all to pieces. 1892 W. G. Lyttle in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 491/2 She wud a pleesed ye a' tae pieces, an' wud a been charmed tae a haen a minister fur a son-in-law. 1925 Dialect Notes V. 325, I knows un all to pieces.

    e. to fall to pieces (fig.): to give birth to a child. dial. and Austral. slang.

1881 S. Evans Evans's Leicestershire Words (new ed.) 212 Anybody can say what's the matter wi' yew wi' 'af a oy. Ye'r a-gooin' to fall to paces. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 28 Fall to pieces,..to undergo confinement, to give birth to a child.

    f. to pick up the pieces: see pick v.¹ 21 n.
    † 2. a. A part of a whole, marked off, ideally separated, or considered as distinct; a portion of an immaterial thing. (Now superseded by part, portion.)

1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiv. 48 Þanne was it a pece of þe pater-noster, fiat voluntas tua. 1534 More Passion Wks. 1303/1 That he might steale a peece of the pryce. 1535 Joye Apol. Tindale (Arb.) 24 In the fourthe peise [= paragraph] of his pistle. 1562 Child-Marriages 116 Roberte Rile the younger neuer promysid her any pease of the lease of the house where her husband nowe dwellis, nor nothinge els. a 1639 Wotton in Reliq. (1651) 438 One of the most fastidious pieces of my life, as I account,..the week of our Annuall Election of Scholers. 1642 Rogers Naaman 182 Now in a word, for the other peece of the question. 1699 Wanley in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 292 For other Saxon books, I have copied large pieces of them. 1755 Washington Lett. Writ. 1889 I. 161 After waiting a day and piece in Winchester.

    b. A limited portion of land, enclosed, marked off by bounds, or viewed as distinct. (An early sense of med.L. petia, petium.)

a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 88 A man that was called Nabot, the whiche had a good pece of wyne. 1463 in Bury Wills (Camden) 31 There is vij acres lond lying..not ferre from Herdwyk wich vij acres lieth in ij pecys. 1535 Coverdale Josh. xxiv. 32 The bones of Ioseph..buried they at Sichem, in the pece of the londe, y{supt} Iacob boughte of the children of Hemor. 1611 Bible Luke xiv. 18, I haue bought a piece of ground. 1772 MS. Award, Winterton, Lincs., All that other peice or parcel of Ground. 1796 Stedman Surinam (1813) II. xxix. 367 The planting ground..is divided into large square pieces. 1808 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 13, I went into a piece of potatoes..without a dog. 1897 J. W. Clark Barnwell Introd. 10 A list of the different pieces of property, with their yearly values.

    c. A portion of a road, rope, line, linear distance.

1561 T. Hoby tr. Castiglione's Courtyer i. K ij b, Accompaninge the Pope a peece of the way. Mod. A weak piece in a rope. A piece of the road is now under repair.

    d. Phrase. a piece of one's mind: something of what one thinks; one's candid opinion; a rebuke, scolding. Cf. bit n.² 4.

1572 Sandys in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. ii. III. 24 Thus am I bolde to unfolde a peece of my mynde. 1667 Dryden Maiden Queen ii. i, I have told her a piece of my mind already. 1838 Dickens Let. 25 Oct. (1965) I. 445 Kate boasts..of having told you ‘a piece of her mind’. 1861 Mrs. H. Wood East Lynne ii. xiii. (1888) 233 The justice was giving her a ‘piece of his mind’. 1914 W. Owen Let. 24 May (1967) 256 Now it is Wednes. and I have had with delight your news. I shall hope to have an important piece of your mind on Sunday. 1930 G. B. Shaw Apple Cart i. 5 He is coming here today to give the King a piece of his mind..about the crisis. 1946 E. S. Gardner Case of Borrowed Brunette (1951) ii. 21 He said I could wear what I had on, no matter where I went. And I certainly gave him a piece of my mind about that. 1956 E. Wilson (title) A piece of my mind: reflections at sixty. 1979 D. Sanders Queen sends for Mrs. Chadwick 14 I'm going to give a few people a piece of my mind.

    † e. fig. a piece of (a scholar, logician, surgeon, philosopher, etc.): somewhat of; ‘a bit’ of; one who partakes to some extent of the character mentioned. Obs. Cf. bit n.² 4.

[1552 Elyot Dict., Frustum hominis, a litle pretie felow, that semeth to be but a peece of a man. Plaut. Petit bout d'homme: moitié de homme.] 1581 Sidney Apol. Poetrie (Arb.) 19 If I had not beene a peece of a Logician before I came to him. 1633 J. Clarke Second Praxis 12 Hoo! would you faine be thought a piece of an Astronomer now? a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 57 Being a good piece of a Schollar. 1743 in Howell State Trials (1813) XVII. 1172 He is a piece of a surgeon. 1768 Sterne Sent. Journ. (1778) I. 101 If I am a piece of a philosopher.

    3. a. A portion or quantity of any substance or kind of matter, forming a single (usually small) body or mass; a bit; as ‘a piece of lead, granite, ice, bread, dough, cloth, paper’; also, piece of water, a small detached sheet of water, a small lake.
    Such a ‘piece’ is, in fact, often a portion of a larger mass, but this is not thought of in the use of the word, the notion being rather that of so much of the substance or material in question forming one body of finite dimensions, which may be either a small or a large piece. It is a separate part or portion of the whole existing stock of the substance.

1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 297 Mai no peny Ale hem paye, ne no pece of Bacun. 1483 Cath. Angl. 272/2 A Pece of leder..or of clathe. 1530 Palsgr. 252/2 Pece of steele. 1535 Coverdale 1 Sam. ii. 36 For a syluer peny and for a pece of bred. c 1595 Capt. Wyatt R. Dudley's Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.) 26 Our Generall caused our Queenes armes to be drawne on a peece of lead. 1657 Austen Fruit Trees i. 43 A hard peece of wood. 1698 Norris Pract. Disc. (1707) IV. 224 Like a red-hot piece of Iron upon an Anvil. 1769 Wesley Jrnl. 24 Aug., Pieces of water that surround it. 1831 Macaulay Civ. Disabilities Jews Ess. 146 The scrawl of the Jew on the back of a piece of paper.

    b. In this sense piece is commonly used in Sc. without of (cf. Ger. ein Stück Brod). Cf. bit n.² 9.

1580 J. Haye in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.) 59 That we adore ane peace bread for God. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 106 There a piece of beef, there a piece cheese lyes. 1787 [Beattie] Scoticisms 73 A piece cheese, bread, &c. 1876 Whitehead Daft Davie (1894) 205 (E.D.D.) She had a piece bread and cheese in her pouch. a 1906 Mod. Give me a small piece paper.

    c. piece of money, piece of gold, piece of silver: A coin.

1526 Tindale Matt. xxvi. 15 And they apoynted vnto hym [Judas] thyrty peces of syluer [Wyclif 1382 thritti platis of seluer, 1388 thretti pans of siluer]. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon xliii. 143 To pay these .iiii. peses of golde yerly. 1540 Act 32 Hen. VIII, c. 14 A piece of flemmishe money called an Englyshe. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 57 b, His Purse..chatcheth vp the other thinkyng to haue a pece of money. 1675 Brooks Gold. Key 302 Look, as the worth and value of many pieces of Silver, is to be found in one piece of Gold. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. ii, My purse with nine large pieces of gold. 1841 Lane Arab. Nts. III. 6, I..amassed three thousand pieces of silver.

    d. piece of flesh, applied to a living person, a human being; piece of goods, applied humorously or contemptuously to a woman or child; now dial. Also piece of ass, tail, etc. (U.S. coarse slang), a person, esp. a woman, regarded as an object of sexual gratification; hence, sexual intercourse; also ellipt. as piece.

1593 Tell-Troth's N.Y. Gift (1876) 30 Oh, she is a tall peece of flesh. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. iv. ii. 127 Why should we be tender, To let an arrogant peece of flesh threat vs? a 1759 Sir C. H. Williams Song vii. in Locker Lyra Eleg. (1867) 163 This beautiful piece Of Eve's flesh is my niece. 1809 Malkin Gil Blas i. ii. ¶6 She seemed a pretty piece of goods enough. 1895 Pinnock Black Country Ann. (E.D.D.), Her's a nice piece o' goods to be a skule guvness. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 66 A wild piece of goods. Her slim legs running up the staircase. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §362/1 Copulation,..piece, piece or hunk of tail, -skirt, -ass or butt. 1950 ‘D. Divine’ King of Fassarai xxviii. 252 Them guys from the merchant ships will do anything for a piece of tail. 1953 T. Morrison Stones of House v. iii. 243 You couldn't put up a memorial to a boy whose younger brother had just given the family and the college a bad name, not even sneaking off to a house somewhere if he wanted a piece. 1957 G. Greene Quiet American (new ed.) i. iii. 28 Get me another drink. And then let's go and find a girl. You've got a piece of tail. I want a piece of tail too. 1968 E. Lovelace Schoolmaster xii. 191 Boy, go and getta pieca ass, then go in your bed. 1972 G. V. Higgins Friends E. Coyle xix. 119 Him and four buddies want a little dough to get a high class piece of tail. 1972 Screw 12 June 21/2 Several revolutionary leaders and a host of government figures all stop by for a piece of ass. 1974 H. L. Foster Ribbin' v. 208 He said he fucked your baby sister and poked your baby niece And when he sees your little brother he's going to ask him for a piece. 1978 J. Krantz Scruples ii. 21 He..thought she was a flaming, fabulous piece of ass.

    e. Of something non-material, as a piece of poetry, piece of prose, piece of music.

1601 Shakes. Twel. N. ii. iv. 2 Giue me some Musick..that peece of song, That old and Anticke song we heard last night. 1616 B. Jonson Epigr. xlv, Here doth lye Ben Ionson his best piece of poetrie. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xvi, He sat down to the piano, and rattled a lively piece of music. Mod. A piece of nervous prose.

    f. With of. A share in; a financial interest in (a business, project, etc.); freq. in phr. a piece of the action. (U.S. slang.)

1929 Theatre Mag. June 33/3 Piece, share. As ‘A piece of the show’, a financial share in the production. 1930 Amer. Mercury Dec. 457/1 He muscles in for a piece of the cleaners' racket. 1940 J. O'Hara Pal Joey 66 He owns a piece of the room [sc. nightclub] where I sing in. 1950 Democrat & Chron. (Rochester, N.Y.) 13 Jan. 22/1 Offered to let me buy a small piece of ‘As You Like It’. 1972 ‘E. Lathen’ Murder without Icing ii. 18 ‘I've had a piece of the Huskies for a long time now.’..‘I figure your interest is worth twice what you paid.’ Ibid. 21 What's it got to do with her if you sell your piece of action? 1973 C. Alverson Fighting Back (1978) i. 2 This is a very pretty little bar you've got here... I want a piece of it. I think you could use a partner. 1976 C. Frick in 6,000 Words 156 They were..managers and agents and producers and all the others that had a piece of the action. 1978 R. Lewis Uncertain Sound iii. 78 Manson would be wanting a ‘piece of the action’.

    g. a piece of cake: see cake n. 7 c.
    4. A (more or less) definite quantity in which various industrial products are made or put up for sale or use. a. A length (varying according to the material) in which cloth or other textile fabric is woven; also, a length of wall-paper as made (in England, generally 12 yards). Often used absolutely: cf. 15 c.
    A piece of muslin is 10 yards; of calico, 28 yards; of Irish linen, 25 yards; of Hanoverian linen, 100 double ells, or 128 yards. (Simmonds Dict. Trade 1858.)

1523 Act 14 & 15 Hen. VIII, c. 3 §7 Every peace of Worstede Sayes or Stamyns to be made withyn any of the said Townes. 1588 Acc. Bk. W. Wray in Antiquary XXXII. 54 Item j pece tawnye buffing xxs. Item ij pece blacke buffing, xxiiijs. 1622 E. Misselden Free Trade (ed. 2) 9 Ther they goe at Twelve Gilders eight stivers the piece. 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Piece,..a certain Number of Ells or Yards of Cloth, Stuff, Silk, etc. 1711 Shaftesbury Charact. (1737) II. 200 Some of those rich stuffs..with such irregular work, and contrary colours, as look'd ill in the pattern, but mighty natural and well in the piece. 1810 J. T. in Risdon's Surv. Devon p. xxvi, The..trade took off..about 35,000 pieces, each piece containing 26 yards. 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. ii. 48 A ‘piece’ of cotton cloth varies from twenty-four to forty-seven yards in length, and from twenty-eight to forty inches in width. 1881 Young Every Man his own Mechanic §1639 A ‘piece’ of English paper is 12 yards long and a piece of French paper about 9½ yards.

    b. A half-pig of lead.

1773 Gentl. Mag. XLIII. 63 Blocks of lead..called pigs..being found too heavy to be easily managed, as they weighed three hundred weight..are now commonly made in Derbyshire into two pieces. 1829 Glover's Hist. Derby i. 81 The pieces, or half-pigs of lead are not of any certain weight, though the smelter endeavours..to approach as near to 1761/4 lbs. as he can.

    5. A cask of wine or brandy, varying in capacity according to the locality, but generally equivalent to the butt, or to two hogsheads. [Fr. pièce.]

c 1490 Paston Lett. III. 364, I sen my lady a lytyll pes of Renysch wyne of the best, of x. gallons. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. ccii. 238 They wanne the good town of Athyen..and there they founde mo than a hundred peces of wyne. 1619 Fletcher Mons. Thomas viii. x, Home, Launce, and strike a fresh piece of wine; the town's ours. 1687 Lond. Gaz. No. 2223/4, 76 Pieces of Conyack Brandy in 32 Lotts. 1705 Ibid. No. 4089/3 One hundred and eighty Pipes or Pieces, of double Spanish Brandy. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 4 There are tuns which can contain from 12 to 15 pieces of wine. 1840 T. A. Trollope Summer in Brittany II. 281 A ‘piece’..of the best brandy, consisting of four hundred bottles, may be purchased at Bordeaux for two hundred and fifty francs. 1895 Westm. Gaz. 8 Apr. 3/2 Forty to fifty basketfuls [of grapes] are put upon the press at one time, and yield from ten to twelve pieces of wine.

    ¶ For the sense ‘cup, wine-cup’, see pece Obs.
    6. a. A single object or individual forming a unit of a class or collective group, as a piece of furniture, piece of plate, piece of artillery or ordnance, piece of luggage; † a head of cattle or game (Sc. obs.). See also 18.

c 1400 Destr. Troy 9504 Syluer and Sarrigold sadly þai grippet,..Pesis of plates plentius mekyll. 1473 Sir J. Paston in P. Lett. III. 102, I most have myn instrumentes hydder, whyche..I praye yow and Berney..to trusse in a pedde. and sende them me hyddre in hast, and a byll ther in how many peces. 1523 Earl of Surrey in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. I. 216 Dyvers other good peces of ordynaunce for the feld. 1563 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 237 Ane brasin pece of artailyerie, ten irn pecis. 1715 Lond. Gaz. No. 5336/2 A Piece of Plate of the value of 100 Ducats. 1792 Gentl. Mag. 12/2 A statue or a piece of plate require inscriptions very different from a monument. 1832 Southey Hist. Penins. War III. 319 A regiment..succeeded in taking two pieces of cannon. 1837 Goring & Pritchard Microgr. 62, I can almost always see the shot of a piece of ordnance when I fire it myself. 1886 M. Linskill Haven under Hill I. xv. 201 It was a handsome piece of furniture. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 15 May 10/1 It handled last year 6,214,447,000 pieces of mail matter. 1899 Daily News 12 Sept. 7/5 It had at our ports been deemed sufficient to take about one ‘piece’ of luggage in five for examination. But when the dynamiters came..the inexorable order went forth that every ‘piece’ was to be searched.

    b. A member of an orchestra or band. In isolation usu. pl. Freq. (sing.) with prefixed numeral forming an attrib. phrase (see sense 24 b); also absol.

1912 J. Webster in Ladies' Home Jrnl. May 70/2 We had..a band consisting of fourteen pieces (three mouth organs and eleven combs). 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xii. 156 Their favorite motion-picture theater..had an orchestra of fifty pieces. 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald Great Gatsby (1926) iii. 48 The orchestra has arrived, no thin five-piece affair, but a whole pitful of oboes and trombones and saxophones. 1938 Melody Maker 27 Aug. 11/4 Billy will use his 14-piece stage band. 1959 P. Capon Amongst those Missing 221 It was like shouting against a ninety-piece orchestra. 1965 New Yorker 2 Jan. 40/1 The only band we had trouble with..was the Savoy Sultans, the house group at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. They only had eight pieces, but they could swing you into bad health. 1966 Crescendo Apr. 12/1 A Saturday night last August. A ten-piece required a little way out of town. 1975 New Yorker 21 Apr. 7/3 On Monday: Dave Matthews' twelve-piece band, made up of studio musicians.

    7. piece of work: a. A product of work, a production, a (concrete) work.

c 1540 Heywood Four P.P. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 363 Here is an eye-tooth of the Great Turk. Whose eyes be once set on this piece of work, May happily lese part of his eyesight. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 941 The Kings Chapell at Westminster,..one of the most excellent peeces of worke, wrought in stone, that is in Christendome. 1602 Shakes. Ham. ii. ii. 315 What a piece of worke is a man! how Noble in Reason! how infinite in faculty! in forme and mouing how expresse and admirable! 1638 Ussher Incarnation (1649) 2 Most admirable peeces of work.

    b. A task, difficult business; fig. a commotion, ado (colloq.).

1594 Carew Huarte's Exam. Wits (1616) 103 It were an infinit peece of worke. 1715 tr. Gregory's Astron. I. 462 It would be a tedious Piece of Work to take out the two component Parts with their Signs. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier (1840) 76 It would be a long piece of work. 1810 Sporting Mag. XXXVI. 262 He kept jawing us, and making a piece of work all the time. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. xxx, What are you making all this piece of work for? 1872 ‘Ouida’ Fitz's Election (ed. Tauchn.) 194 How do you expect to get along..when it's such a piece of work to make you shake hands?

    c. Applied, usu. contemptuously, to a person.

1928, etc. [see nasty a. 7]. 1936 ‘N. Blake’ Thou Shell of Death vii. 122 She..had been Fergus's mistress. She is a pretty grand piece of work. 1965 A. Nicol Truly Married Woman 109 Jolson..looking at Newi's heavy square mahogany face..thought what an obstinate and unpleasant piece of work the fellow was.

    8. An individual instance, exemplification, specimen, or example, of any form of action or activity, function, abstract quality, etc. a. Applied to a concrete thing.

a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 104 The conference of these two places, conteinyng so excellent a peece of learning, as this is. 1657 Sir W. Mure Hist. Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 235, I have adventured to offer this small peace of labour to posteritie. 1664 Power Exp. Philos. i. 58 These puny automata, and exsanguineous pieces of Nature. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 398 A..delicate Piece of Architecture. 1705 J. Taylor Journ. Edinb. (1903) 71 A noble Monument of its former Grandeur, being one of the finest pieces of ruin in the Kingdom. 1723 T. Thomas in Portland Papers VI. (Hist. MSS. Comm.) 74, I think it is the worst piece of portrait that ever in my life I saw. 1869 Goulburn Purs. Holiness Pref. 7 A piece of religious literature.

    b. Applied to an abstract thing.

1570 Foxe A. & M. (ed. 2) 2279/1 What a peece of Gods tender prouidence was shewed of late vpon our English brethren and countrey men. a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. (1622) 51 Making a peece of reverence unto him. 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 211 They want the use of footmen, to whom these peeces of service doe properly belong. 1656 Earl of Monmouth tr. Boccalini's Advts. fr. Parnass. i. lxv. (1674) 84 It being an hateful piece of petulancy to envy great Princes. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 112 Eminent pieces of Self-denial. 1748 Anson's Voy. iii. x. 407 It would have been a piece of imprudence. 1832 H. Martineau Hill & Valley xiii. 123 Some fresh piece of bad news. 1876 Trevelyan Macaulay I. iii. 139 A rare piece of luck. 1884 Sir F. North in Law Times Rep. 22 Mar. 122/2 Another piece of carelessness on the part of the auctioneer.

    † c. Applied to a person in whom some quality is exemplified or realized. Obs.

1623 Fletcher Rule a Wife iii. v, The master of this little piece of mischief. a 1635 Naunton Fragm. Reg. (Arb.) 38 Sir Nicholas Bacon, An arch-piece of Wit and Wisdom. 1648 Goodwin in Jenkyn Blind Guide i. 6 Green-head, young peece of presumption, Prelaticall peece of Presbytery,..swelling peece of vanity. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull iii. i, One of your affected curt'sying pieces of formality. 1778 F. Burney Evelina (1791) II. xxx. 182 As to the little Louisa, tis such a pretty piece of languor.

    II. Absolute uses (elliptical, contextual, or conventional), without of and specification of the substance, etc.
    9. A person, a personage, an individual. a. Applied to a man. arch. and dial.
    In early use often = One of a multitude, army, or company; in 17th c. tending to be dyslogistic: cf. b.

1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 7314 He at stod vpe þe brugge mid an ax alone,..A stalwarde pece þat was, nou god cuþe is soule loue. a 1300 Cursor M. 11058 Til Ion were born, a wel god pece. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 156 In his buke has Dares demed, Both of Troie & of Grece, whatkyns schappe was ilka pece. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 4446 That fel faire for men of Grece, Thei hadde elles dyed euery pece. 1614 B. Jonson Bart. Fair i. iv, Hee is another manner of peece then you think for. 1651 Isaackson in Fuller's Abel Rediv., Andrewes (1867) II. 161 King James..selecting him as his choicest piece, to vindicate his regality. 1673 Kirkman Unlucky Citizen 171 She having so untoward a piece to her Husband, was undone by him. 1691 Wood Ath. Oxon. II. 179 Say & Sele was a seriously subtil piece. 1736 Chandler Hist. Persec. 346 Bancroft..was, as the historian calls him, a sturdy Piece. 1746 in Leisure Hour (1880) 117 An old nasty grunting bishop..who plagues me out of my life, he is such a formal piece. 1918 L. Strachey Eminent Victorians 63, I hate that man, he is such a forward piece.

    b. Applied to a woman or girl.
    In recent use, mostly depreciatory, of a woman or girl regarded as a sexual object.

13.. E. E. Allit. P. A. 192 A precios pyece in perlez pyȝt. 1567 Turberv. Ovid's Epist. 157 b, Faire Helena, that passing peece. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 441 Stately, proude, and disdainefull peeces. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, v. v. 27 All Princely Graces That mould vp such a mighty Piece as this is [Queen Elizabeth]. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. i. ii. iv. i. (1651) 143 A waspish cholerick slut, a crazed peece. 1668 Sedley Mulb. Gard. iii. ii, She is a tender Piece. 1694 R. L'Estrange Fables, Life æsop 5 Xanthus having a kind of a Nice froward Piece to his wife. 1783 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes to Roy. Acad. vi, Think of the Sage, who wanted a fine piece. 1846 Swell's Night Guide 86 She is a charming piece. 1854 M. J. Holmes Tempest & Sunshine iv. 57 Dr. Lacey laughed heartily at this speech and called her an ‘original little piece’. 1873 J. Miller Life amongst Modocs xv. 194 Rather a good-looking piece you got here now, ain't she? a 1906 Mod. dial. She is a forward piece. 1908 Z. Gale Friendship Village 251 [When] Zorah had took sick..this little piece here had up an' offered [to dance in the carnival]. 1939 W. Faulkner Wild Palms 334 ‘Woman. It was a fellow's wife.’ ‘You mean you had been toting one piece up and down the country day and night for over a month and now..you got to get in trouble over another one?’ 1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) x. 160 You speak to him, Alec... Gallivanting around with that peroxided piece. 1966 K. Amis Anti-Death League 329 Those two pieces in leather who served you your coffee. 1972 F. van W. Mason Roads to Liberty 18 Katie wouldn't be a bad-looking piece,..if she'd half take care of her appearance. 1978 I. B. Singer Shosha xiii. 232 He was allegedly going to divorce his wife, who was a common piece.

    10. a. A piece of armour; † esp. in the phrase armed at (of) all pieces, at all points, completely [F. armé de toutes pièces] (obs.). Also in Comb., as head-piece, shoulder-piece, thigh-piece, etc.

c 1400 Destr. Troy 181 Knightes, Armyt at all peses, able to were. Ibid. 12878 Armet at all pes. c 1500 Melusine 248 Thenne toke he his armures & armed hym of al pieces. 1600 Holland Livy xxxi. 799 The regiment of the footmen..came but slowly forward, by reason they were heauily armed at all peeces. 1635 J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Banish'd Virg. 157 Deadora..arming herself at all peics, ranne to the prore.

    † b. A fortified place, fortress, stronghold. Obs.

1525 St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 160 The demaundes made by Mons{supr}. de Buren for the Duchie of Burgon, and diverse other gret peaces in Fraunce. 1527 Ibid. 187 With the revocacion of tharmye, and rendicion of Genes, and other peces, whiche the Frenche King shulde rendre. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 83 He receyued againe all the holdes and peeces which his father had lost. 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 136 They set wide open their gates, and made a sudden salie out of the peece. 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. x. lviii. (1612) 254 This Guise bereft vs Calice, and in France our Peeces all. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 3 Ostend..is most regularly and exactly fortified, so that it seemed to us one of the strongest Pieces in all the Low-Countries. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. II. ii. v. 288 A commission..to repair..to the town of Calais and to certain other pieces on that side of the seas.

    † c. A sailing or rowing vessel. Obs.

1545 St. Papers Hen. VIII, I. 809 Capitaynes and leaders of His Highnes rowyng peces. 1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 1004/1 To go and see the Royal James,..and several other pieces built by Commissioner Deane.

    11. A weapon for shooting, fire-arm. a. A piece of artillery; a cannon, gun.

a 1550 Sir A. Barton in Surtees Misc. (1888) 68 He hath three-score peece on ether side. 1565 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 360 To mak bullettis for small pecis. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xxiv. 65 b, Diuers great and little peeces aswell of brasse as of yron. 1600 Fairfax Tasso ix. liv, So from a piece two chained bullets flie. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. v. xii. 67 To know what Shot and Powder is meet for every Piece. 1706 Phillips, Pieces, (in Warlike Affairs) signify Cannon or great Guns, as Battering-Pieces which are us'd at Sieges..: Field-pieces. 1875 Clery Min. Tactics x. (1877) 123 Part of the attacking force should be directed against the covering party and part against the pieces.

    b. A portable fire-arm, hand-gun; as a musket, carbine, pistol, fowling-piece. Now chiefly U.S. slang.

1581 Styward Mart. Discip. i. 44 Such must haue..a good and sufficient peece, flaske, touch bore, pouder, shot, &c. 1590 Sir J. Smith Disc. Weapons 42 margin, The inuention of artillery, powder, shot, and small peeces of fire was not first in Germanie. 1591 G. Fletcher Russe Commw. (Hakl. Soc.) 76 The stocke of his piece is not made caliever wise but..somewhat like a fowling piece. 1603 Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 332 Taught to handle all manner of weapons, but especially the bow, the peece, and the Scimetar. 1704 Lond. Gaz. No. 4044/3 Our Grenadiers..put their Bayonets in the Muzzles of their Pieces. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. v. lx. 475 Considering how many arrows might be drawn before one piece could have been loaded and discharged. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. xvi. III. 674 Five hundred grenadiers rushed..to the counterscarp, fired their pieces, and threw their grenades. 1870 E. Peacock Ralph Skirl. III. 254 He knelt on one knee, and levelled his piece direct at William's head. 1930 Amer. Speech V. 392 Piece, a firearm of any kind, including a pistol. 1956 ‘E. McBain’ Cop Hater (1958) x. 91 In this neighbourhood, you don't carry a knife or a piece, you're dead. 1970 L. Sanders Anderson Tapes xxxi. 82 You're a good shot... But you've never carried a piece on a job... If this campaign goes through, you'll have to pack a piece. 1973 Black World July 55/2, I slid the piece from under my shirt. 1976 Times Lit. Suppl. 6 Aug. 998/2 A high-class, good burglar..who has never carried a piece in his life.

    † c. A crossbow. Obs.

1590 Nottingham Rec. IV. 60 Quod dictus Fabianus non sagittabit in aliquo le peece ad aliquam rem vivam. 1598 Dallington Meth. Trav. (1606) T iv b, The Crossebowe... Once in a yere, there is in each city a shooting with the Peeces at a Popingay of wood. Ibid. T v, By this practise..he groweth more ready and perfit in the vse of his Peece.

    12. Each of the pieces of wood, ivory, etc., also called ‘men’, with which chess is played; technically restricted to the superior ‘men’ (‘pieces of honour’, ‘dignified pieces’), as distinguished from the pawns. Also extended to those with which draughts, backgammon, etc., are played. [So It. pezzo, Sp. pieza, F. pièce.]
    In the Continental use of the word, traces of its restriction in chess to the eight superior ‘men’ are found already in the 16th c.

[1497 Lucena Arte de Axedres A j b, Sabiendo como juega cada pieza. c 1570 B.M. Add. MS. 28710 lf. 360 a, Todas las pie{cced}as y peones salvo el Rey.] 1562 J. Rowbotham Play Cheasts A iv, The principle is to knowe the pieces, to wit, the name, the number, and the seat of euery one. As for the fashion of the pieces, that is according to the fantasie of the workman. 1591 Florio Sec. Fruites 262 A. Doth it pleese you then to play at the chesse..? S. Order your peeces. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Fam. Epist. Wks. (1711) 146 In this case they [pawns] are surrogated in those void rooms of the pieces of honour, which, because they suffered themselves to be taken, were removed off the board. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 67/1 What peice or man soeuer of your owne you touch or lift from its place, you must play it for that draught where you can. 1778 C. Jones Hoyle's Games Impr. 139 If..you find a Prospect of Success, rush on boldly and sacrifice a Piece or two. 1788 Chambers' Cycl. (ed. Rees) s.v. Chess, In this game each player had eight dignified pieces..and also eight pawns... These pieces are distinguished by being painted in white and black colours. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) s.v. Chess, In order to begin the game, the pawns must be moved before the pieces. 1870 Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle, Chess 37 Eight pieces of different denominations and powers, and eight Pawns, are allotted to each competitor... The pieces are named..King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Rook. Ibid., Draughts 139 The antagonist can insist on this being done or huff the piece. 1898 Culin Chess & Playing Cards 836 Set of thirty-two domino pieces of teak wood. Ibid. 841 Jeu de l'Oie.. the pieces are moved according to the throw.

    13. a. A piece of money (see 3 c); a coin. Often with defining word, as seven-shilling piece, crown piece, threepenny piece, twopenny piece, penny piece, five-franc piece, etc.

1575 Reg. Privy Council Scot. II. 455 To be payit all in half merk pecis. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 289 They coyne any peece, of which they can make gayne. 1642 Rogers Naaman 106 He must be a foole who really can satisfie himselfe in counters as if they were peeces. 1658 Wood Life (O.H.S.) I. 241 A peice of p(ope) Jo(hn) the 23, and also a French peice. 1710 Lond. Gaz. No. 4748/4 A Queen Elizabeth Piece of 35s. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 102 The Gold Piece found in St. Gyles's Field. 1788 Priestley Lect. Hist. iii. xvi. 134 These pieces were not called farthings, but farthing tokens. 1845 Ford Handbk. Spain i. 5 The value..of any individual piece is very uncertain.

    † b. spec. Popularly applied to an English gold coin; orig. to the unite of James I, and afterwards to the sovereign, and guinea, as the one or other was the current coin. Hence half-piece. Obs.
    The Unite was issued in 1604 as = 20 shillings; but was raised in 1612 to 22 shillings.

1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass i. i. 5 I'll warrant you for halfe a piece. Ibid. iii. iii. 83 What is't? a hundred pound?..No, th' Harpey, now, stands on a hundred pieces. 1618 Featly Clavis Myst. xxxii. (1636) 426 All our crownes and soveraines, and pieces, and halfe pieces, and duckatts and double duckatts are currant but to the brim of the grave. 1659–60 Pepys Diary 14 Mar., Here I got half-a-piece of a person of Mr. Wright's recommending to my Lord to be Preacher of the Speaker frigate. a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Job, a Guinea, Twenty Shillings, or a Piece. 1706 Estcourt Fair Examp. iii. i. 34 Fifty Pieces are 50 Pound, 50 Shillings, and 50 Six-pences: I know what they are well enough, and you too. 1727–41 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Coin, Guinea, or piece.

    c. piece of eight, the Spanish dollar, or peso, of the value of 8 reals, or (in 1906) about 4s. 6d. It was marked with the figure 8.

1610 B. Jonson Alch. iii. iii. 15 Round trunkes, Furnish'd with pistolets, and pieces of eight. 1670 Narborough Jrnl. in Acc. Sev. Late Voy. i. (1694) 97 The Spaniards..paid for what things they bought in good Pillar pieces of Eight. 1679 Oldham Sat. upon Jesuits ii, Strange!.. What charity pieces of eight produce. 1706 Phillips, Piece of Eight or Piece of eight Ryals, a Spanish Coin; of which there are several sorts. 1748 Earthquake of Peru i. 9 His annual Allowance is 7,000 Pieces of Eight. 1882 Arber Garner V. 227 note, Peso..was the monetary Unit of Central America; afterwards known as the Piece of Eight, and is the Mexican dollar of the present day.

    14. A portion of time or space. Now dial. a. A portion or space of time; esp. a short space of time; a while.
    (Occurs in OF. in 13th c., and in AF. in Britton ii. iii. §12 Cum il avera esté graunt pece en seisine.)

a 1300 Cursor M. 7063 Þe wer lasted sa lang a pece. 14.. in Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866) 245 About þis a pece I wyl spede, Þat I myth þis lettrys rede. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Piece, a little while. ‘Stay a piece and then aw will’. c 1825 in N. & Q. 9th Ser. III. 330 A piece back, three tides came up the Trent on one day. 1897 Kipling Capt. Cour. viii. 165 We'll fish a piece till the thing lifts. 1937 G. Heyer They found him Dead iv. 68, I wouldn't run the risk of bumping off an old man who had a valvular disease of the heart. Guess I'd wait a piece for Nature to do its work.

    † b. Here probably belongs o pece, opece, opese (a peace), in still opece (erron. still a peace), continually, continuously, constantly: see still adv. Obs.

c 1440 Generydes 1385 He wold not leve, butt stille alway opece Dede all that he cowde to hurt Generydes. Ibid. 3391 And euer more in prayours still opese, Vnto the tyme she knew it shuld goo. Ibid. 5254 Haue here a ryng and kepe it still opece, To the tyme that ye come onto Clarionas. 1555 W. Watreman Fardle Facions ii. xii. 294 How she from thre yeres of age..remained ther [in the temple] seruing God stil a peace.

    c. A portion of the way or distance between two points; a short distance. Chiefly dial.

1612 Brinsley Lud. Lit. 230 By practice, euery day going a piece, and oft reading ouer and ouer, they will grow very much, to your great ioy. c 1730 Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 151 He told us we must go west a piece..and then incline to the north. 1760–72 H. Brooke Fool of Qual. (1809) III. 59 Then I would run a piece off,..and again I would delay, and stop. c 1817 Hogg Tales & Sk. V. 231 I'll make my brother Adam carry it piece about with you. 1852 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. vii, I've walked quite a piece to-day, in hopes to get to the ferry. 1873 E. B. Tuttle Boy's Bk. Indians 134 Major Gordon descended the ridge..and carrying the body of Stambaugh a piece, hid it away in some bushes. 1908 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Green Gables ii. 18 We've got to drive a long piece, haven't we? Mrs. Spencer said it was eight miles. 1931 Amer. Speech VII. 20 Piece, a short walk. ‘I will go a piece with you.’ 1940 Bryant & Aiken Psychol. of Eng. 84 Come and walk a piece with me. 1956 B. Holiday Lady sings Blues (1973) x. 98, I thought we were stranded until I saw a car down the road a piece. 1971 Sunday Express (Johannesburg) 28 Mar. (Home-finder section) 3/3 (Advt.), Fabulous fishing, Superb surfing. Nearby golf courses, Not forgetting swinging Margate..just up the road a piece. 1978 G. Mitchell Wraiths & Changelings i. 11 He's in a bad way..on the floor of my cottage. It's just a piece down the road.

    15. A (small) portion of some specific substance. a. A small portion, scrap, or cutting, of cloth, leather, or the like; esp. as used to repair a hole or tear: a patch. Cf. piece v. 1.

c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 41 Þei may pese hem [cloþis] aȝen or cloute hem of sacchis & oþere pecis. 1433 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 452/1 The same Clothe to be sold for a remenaunt, or for a pece and nat for a Clothe. [1526 Tindale Matt. ix. 16 Noo man peceth an olde garment with a pece [ἐπίβληµα, commissuram, Wycl. medlynge, clout] off newe cloothe.]

    b. Short for ‘piece of bread’ (with or without butter, etc.); spec. such a piece eaten by itself, not as part of a regular meal. Sc. and Eng. dial. (Northumb. to Shropsh., and Cornwall). Also used sporadically elsewhere.

1787 A. Shirrefs Bess & Jamie iv. i, Neither tak' her siller nor a piece. 1834 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. III. 254/2 Receiving each a piece and jelly on't from granny, because they were guid bairns. 1878 C. Hallock Sportsman's Gazetteer (ed. 4) 696 Piece, a lunch, a snack (Pennsylvania). 1881 Gregor Folk-Lore 93 Pieces, however, were ordinarily given. 1883 Daily News 12 Dec. 2/6 On one occasion defendant gave her a bit of bridescake, on another a jelly piece. 1893 Stevenson Catriona xvi. 185, I..took the road again on foot, with the piece in my hand and munching as I went. 1898 Westm. Gaz. 14 Dec. 2/1 When they get off at mid-day to eat their ‘piece’, there is talking and laughing among the field workers. 1903 Eng. Dial. Dict. (Wigtown), A dry piece is plain loaf bread or oat cake, without butter, jam, or treacle. Ibid. (Cornwall), If a child tells you she had ‘nothing but a piece all day’, you know she means bread and butter. 1911 E. M. Clowes On Wallaby vi. 164 The children..wander..in and out of the kitchen, with incessant demands for what is known as ‘a piece’—a liberal slice of bread, butter, and jam. 1949 ‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xix. 175 Saturday afternoon was a holiday for the Ashby children and they were accustomed..to take a ‘piece’ with them and pursue their various interests in the countryside until it was time to come home to their evening meal. 1962 M. Duffy That's how it Was x. 85 ‘Gi's a piece, our mam,’ and they would run off with a doorstep of bread and jam. 1973 ‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed 234 Piece, sandwich. 1978 Jrnl. Lancs. Dial. Soc. Jan. 15/2 [Edinburgh] Piece, sandwich. E.g. jeely piece (one containing cheap jam).

    c. A length of cloth, wall-paper, etc.: see 4 a.
    d. Whaling. A section or chunk of blubber, more fully called blanket-piece.
    e. Bookbinding. A tablet of leather which fills a panel on the back of a book, and receives the title (lettering-piece).
    f. Malting. A quantity of grain steeped and spread out at one time: = floor n.¹ 6 b.

1832 W. Champion Maltster's Guide 43 The turning of his floors or pieces. 1876 Wyllie in Encycl. Brit. IV. 268/2 It is of importance to the maltster that the law allows him to sprinkle water over the ‘pieces’ on the floor.

    g. pl. pieces. An inferior quality of crystallized sugar obtained in the manufacture of crystals and crushed sugar.

1867 Produce Markets Rev. 13 July 161/1 The character of the Pieces Sugar made in London retrogrades rather than improves as a whole. 1875 Ure's Dict. Arts III. 948 The first crystallisation is called ‘crushed’ and the second ‘pieces’, the drainage from which goes by the name of ‘syrup’. 1884 West. Morn. News 4 Sept. 6/5 Sugar..London pieces, rather quiet, steady.

    h. pl. pieces. The oddments of wool which are detached from the skirtings of a fleece; also, the skirtings themselves. Chiefly Austral. and N.Z.

1881 A. Bathgate Waitaruna 173 The ‘pickers up’ were..carrying [the fleeces] to the sorting table, where they were stripped of the ‘pieces’, which were thrown aside. 1891 R. Wallace Rural Econ. Austral. & N.Z. xxix. 384 The washing of wool, either before or after shearing, is, with the exception of locks and pieces, which are generally scoured, almost entirely given up. 1951 [see fleece-wool s.v. fleece n. 6]. 1965 [see piece picker, sense 23]. 1971 J. S. Gunn Distrib. Shearing Terms N.S.W. 20 The south was the only area where..there was a preference for pieces rather than skirtings.

    i. A quantity of a drug (esp. morphine or heroin) approximately equal to one ounce. U.S. slang.

1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 2/2 Piece, a, an ounce of morphine, cocaine or heroin. 1945 W. J. Spillard Needle in Haystack viii. 77 ‘I hava da pieces—pure stuff.’ Pieces was an underworld term for ounces. 1963 U.S. Supreme Court Reports 371 U.S. 474 Johnny kept about a piece of heroin. [Note] A ‘piece’ is approximately one ounce. 1965 Reader's Digest June 228 He buys heroin in ‘pieces’ (ounces) cuts it, and bags it.

    16. A separate article or item of baggage or property in transit; spec. (Hist.) in the N. Amer. fur trade, a package of goods or furs weighing about ninety pounds. (Chiefly U.S.)
    The exact weight of the pound referred to is not certain.

1774 [see pack n.1 2]. 1809 A. Henry Trav. & Adventures Canada ii. ii. 15 The freight of a canoe..consists in sixty pieces, or packages, of merchandize, of the weight of from ninety to a hundred pounds each. Ibid. 24 The method of carrying the packages, or pieces, as they are called, is the same with that of the Indian women. 1836 G. Back Narr. Arctic Land Expedition i. 32 Every package had been reduced or augmented to a ‘piece’ of 90 lbs. weight. 1890 Cooley, etc. Railways Amer. 253 The cases in which pieces go astray are astonishingly rare. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 15 May 10/1 The postal establishment of the United States..handles more pieces, employs more men, spends more money..than any other human organisation, public or private. 1931 G. L. Nute Voyageur 38 Each package, or piece, was made up to weigh ninety pounds, and two ears were left at the top by which the voyageur could lift it easily in the manner of a modern flour bag. 1949 World-Herald (Omaha) 19 June iii. 5/2 In the north, 80 pounds is considered a ‘piece’... In the days of the early fur traders that was considered a proper load of skins for a man. 1972 T. McHugh Time of Buffalo viii. 89 A single sack, weighing about ninety pounds, was known as a ‘piece’ of pemmican, and made a convenient parcel for back-packing or portaging.

    17. a. A production, specimen of handicraft, work of art; a contrivance; = piece of work (7 a). See also masterpiece.

1604 E. G[rimstone] D'Acosta's Hist. Indies v. viii. 349 They buried with them much wealth, as golde, silver, stones,..bracelets of gold, and other rich peeces. 1626 B. Jonson Staple of N. v. i, It were a piece Worthy my night-cap, and the Gowne I weare, A Picklockes name in Law. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §15 Ruder heads stand amazed at those prodigious pieces of Nature, Whales, Elephants, Dromidaries and Camels. 1650 Baxter Saints' R. i. vii. (1662) 121 Surely were it not for Eternity, I should think man a silly piece. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (1729) I. 517 He busied himself in making a Chest..he was as proud of it as if it had been the rarest piece in the World. 1698 A. Brand Emb. Muscovy to China 71 Several rare pieces made at Augsburgh, that moved by the help of Clock-work. 1904 H. James Golden Bowl I. vii. 141 Representative precious objects, great ancient pictures..fine eminent ‘pieces’ in gold, in silver..had for a number of years..multiplied themselves round him. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 6 Nov., ‘Orders are pouring in like gang-busters,’ says Bob Koppang, a Hopkins, Minn., novelty dealer. ‘Last week alone we sold nearly 29,000 pieces.’ 1978 I. Murdoch Sea 31 The big oval mirror in the hall..is perhaps the best ‘piece’ in the house. 1979 Country Life 12 Apr. 1142/1 Special-occasion pieces..help these self-supporting artists... A piece of jewellery by a contemporary artist is a wonderfully exciting thing to own.

    b. A painting, a picture; † a portrait.

1574 Appius & Virginia in Hazl. Dodsley IV. 125 O fond Apelles, prattling fool, why boasteth thou so much, The famous't piece thou mad'st in Greece? 1594 Plat Jewell-Ho. iii. 51 To refresh the colours of olde peeces that bee wrought in oyle. 1662–3 Pepys Diary 27 Feb., There is also a very excellent piece of the King, done by Holbein. 1697 tr. C'tess D'Aunoy's Trav. (1706) 173, I was all alone in my apartment, busie in painting a small Piece. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 183/1 The painter valued himself upon the celerity and ease with which he dispatched his pieces. 1853 Lytton My Novel i. xii, The walls..were thickly covered, chiefly with family pictures:..now and then some Dutch fair, or battle-piece. 1861 M. Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 45 Among the portraits which hung above were two allegorical pieces by Master Hans Holbein.

    c. A piece of statuary or sculpture.

1579 Fulke Confut. Sanders 634, I do so honour auncient images, that I make as great account of a peece of Nero,..as I do of Constantius. 1629 Maxwell tr. Herodian (1635) 61 Most of the fairest Peeces in all the Citie, perisht in these flames. 1950 D. Gascoyne Vagrant 13 A hand-high Rodin piece. 1961 C. P. Fitzgerald in Webster s.v., Images of the Buddha are made to certain conventional patterns and there is often great difficulty in determining the origin of any piece on stylistic grounds. 1979 Country Life 12 Apr. 1142/1 Sculptor Peter Lyon['s] pendant..is very reminiscent of his full-scale work..for example..a piece in the central gardens of Park Town, Oxford.

    d. A literary composition, in prose or verse, generally short. Also, an article for a newspaper, journal, or other publication.

1533 More Debell. Salem Pref., Wks. 930/1 Vnto one little piece, one greate cunning man had made a long aunswere, of twelue whole shetes of paper. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §20 That Villain and Secretary of Hell, that composed that miscreant piece Of the Three Impostors. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 32 There is a Posthumous piece extant, imputed to Cartes. 1710 Shaftesbury Advice Author iii, That exteriour Proportion and Symmetry of Composition, which constitutes a legitimate Piece. 1775 Johnson Let. to Mrs. Thrale 22 May, I am not sorry that you read Boswell's journal. Is it not a merry piece? 1824 J. Johnson Typogr. I. 529 He printed most of Archbishop Cranmer's pieces. 1878 Browning Poets Croisic xxix, A poet also, author of a piece Printed and published. 1936 D. Powell Turn, Magic Wheel i. 36 That..fellow who was always after him to write a ‘piece’ for the weekly he ran. 1961 Noble Savage Oct. 10 A period in which he..had a small piece in Partisan Review. 1974 ‘D. Craig’ Dead Liberty xxi. 124 Dravier worked on two features for the paper,..a piece about price stability in East Germany..and..a Youth article. 1976 Gramophone June 32/3 In the same month came Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 on seventeen sides, to which WRA [sc. the reviewer] devoted a page and a half..; one of WRA's most perceptive pieces.

    e. A drama, a play.

1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §47 In the last scene, all the Actors must enter to compleat and make up the Catastrophe of this great peece. 1779 Sheridan Critic i. i, On the first night of a new piece they always fill the house with orders to support it. 1851 Thackeray Eng. Hum. v. (1876) 315 To supply himself with [money]..he began to write theatrical pieces. 1867 Freeman Norm. Conq. I. iv. 252 Arnulf, as usual, appears as the villain of the piece. 1885 Bath Herald 17 Jan. 3/2 The usage was to engage stars for the run of the piece.

    f. A musical composition, usually short, either independent or forming an individual part of a larger work.

1825 J. Neal Bro. Jonathan I. 95 Nobody can bear to hear..a favourite piece over and over again the same night. 1856 Amy Carlton 208 Amy..played the piece that she was learning. 1880 in Grove Dict. Mus. II. 751 Piece. This word..has since the end of the last century been applied to instrumental musical compositions as a general and untechnical term.

    g. A short discourse; a passage for recitation (dial. and U.S.). Also colloq. phr. to say (or speak) one's piece: to express one's opinion or judgement on a subject or question; to have one's say.

1845 C. M. Kirkland Western Clearings 158 Some of the best speakers mount the platform, and ‘speak a piece’. 1865 C. F. Browne A. Ward: his Travels ii. i. 128, I have spoken my piece about the Ariel. 1879 Congress. Rec. 16 May 1380/2, I expect to read tomorrow [in the papers] that I spoke a piece, that is the way they print it sometimes, in favor of slavery. 1882 Nodal & Milner Gloss. Lancs. Dial. 212 We're gooin' a-sayin' pieces at schoo'. 1886 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester 258 In the country schools when children recite poetry it is always called ‘saying their pieces’. 1890 Harper's Mag. Dec. 139/2 Don't you want to hear me speak my piece? 1895 ‘Rosemary’ Under Chilterns 83 All the ‘pieces’ that the children learnt to repeat at school they taught to her. 1896 Leeds Mercury Suppl. 26 May, Ahr Louisa wor allus a gooid un at sayin pieces. Hes ta le'nt that piece yut? 1902 Mrs. G. M. Martin Emmy Lou 115 Emmy Lou had to learn a piece for Friday. It was poetry, but you called it a piece. 1941 U. Orange Tom Tiddler's Ground vi. 117 Lady Cameron was simply furious with me after that concert-party episode, when I just flatly refused to say my piece. 1942 [see drift v. 1 c]. 1949 North Dakota Hist. Jan. 23 He didn't like recitations, and would rather hunt rabbits than speak pieces. 1949 G. B. Shaw Buoyant Billions iv. 54 Dick, I will say that you are wonderful when you speak your piece, though I never understand a word. 1973 J. Porter It's Murder with Dover xi. 115 ‘You didn't speak to Marsh again?’ ‘No. I'd said my piece.’ 1976 A. Miller Inside Outside xi. 181 A structured or unstructured group where all were free to say their piece.

    III. Phrases. (See also 1 b, c, 2 d, 10 a, 14 b.)
    18. a piece, the piece, each (Sc. ilk) or every piece: each piece of a number of pieces; each unit of a number, set, or company; each of them or these: esp. in stating the share or price of each unit or individual member (see sense 6). Hence, adverbially, apiece, q.v., the piece, per piece. [F. la pièce.]
    Apiece can still be said of persons as well as things (so the piece in Sc. and north dial.).

a 1400–50 Alexander 5474 Lamprays of weȝt Twa hundreth pond ay a pece. c 1483 Caxton Dialogues 47 The good candelmaker Gyueth foure talow candellis For one peny the pece [F. le piece]. 1489 Acta Audit. (1839) 131/1, xiij. horss and meris, price of þe pece xl.s. 1529 in Wills Doctors Commons (Camden) 18, xiijxx peerles at iiijd. the peace. 1530 Tindale Answ. More Wks. (1573) 267/1 The Pope..set vp in Rome a stewes of xx. or xxx. thousand whores, taking of euery pece tribute yearly. 1533 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 35, xijd. a peice. 1553 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 150 Thai had payit ane grott for the heid off ilk peax [of cattle] for thair poindlaw. 1566 Ibid. 493 The soum of ten markis for ilk pece of xxv. oxin. 1600 J. Pory tr. Leo's Africa vii. 289 Horses..sold againe for fortie and sometimes for fiftie ducates a piece. 1637 in Bury Wills (Camden) 169, I giue..John Mount and John Muske xs. peece, Margaret Texall xxs. 1660 Act 12 Chas. II, c. 4 Sched. s.v. Bowes, Bowes, vocat. stone-bowes of steel, the piece x.s. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (1850) I. 81 The bischopis had causit imprint thir bookis..and sould haue gottin fra ilk minister four pundis for the peice. 1686 tr. Chardin's Trav. Persia 355 Sold for five hunder'd Crowns a piece. a 1692 H. Pollexfen Disc. Trade (1697) A vij b, Fat Oxen were often sold at 6s. per piece. 1797 Statist. Acc. Scot. XIX. 48 A fine of a cow the piece [= each person]. a 1906 Mod. Sc. He gae them twa shillin' the piece for helpin' him.

    19. by the piece: at a rate of so much for a definite amount or quantity; according to the amount done. on (the) piece: at piece-work.

1703 T. N. City & C. Purchaser 23 These Posts are..made by the Piece, viz. 1d..per Post. 1807 Southey in Robberds Mem. W. Taylor II. 209, I think such work is good enough to be paid by the piece. 1859 Jephson Brittany iii. 23, I could not ascertain whether they worked by the day or by the piece. 1879 Print. Trades Jrnl. xxix. 40 An employer is not bound to provide constant work for a man on the piece. 1885 Times (weekly ed.) 9 Oct. 4/2 Most pottery workers are paid by ‘piece’. 1903 [see Linotype]. 1911 Rep. Labour & Social Conditions in Germany (Tariff Reform League) III. 96 Those on ‘piece’ earn from 49s. to 58s. 9d. per week. All the men are on ‘piece’, and work 53 hours per week.

    20. in or of one piece: consisting of a single or undivided piece or mass. Also fig., whole, without injury or loss.

[1535 Coverdale Exod. xxxvii. 22 The knoppes & braunches..were all one pece of fyne beaten golde.] 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xvi. 50 [An] obelisquie of coloured stone all of one peece 50. cubits high. 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 317 The whole is cast in one piece in bell-metal. 1864 Longfellow in Life (1891) III. 32 Finished to-day the revision and copying..the translation of the Purgatorio, so as to have it all of one piece with the rest. 1885 Bible (R.V.) Exod. xxxvii. 8 Of one piece with the mercy-seat made he the cherubim at the two ends thereof. 1929 D. Hammett Dain Curse (1930) xiii. 141, I returned to the ravine..reaching the bottom all in one piece with nothing more serious the matter with me than torn fingers. 1968 W. Garner Deep, Deep Freeze xxxi. 256 My orders are just to get him to London in one piece. After that, he's someone else's worry. 1973 ‘D. Jordan’ Nile Green vi. 29, I thought I'd come and see you through Customs in one piece. 1976 P. & W. Proctor Women in Pulpit v. 88 When I arrived at a church, I was glad to be there in one piece, and the people were just as glad to see me.

    21. a. of a piece: of one piece, in one mass (= 20); often fig. of one and the same kind or quality; uniform, consistent; in agreement, harmony, or keeping. [F. tout d'une pièce.] Also all-of-a-piece attrib. phr.; hence all-of-a-pieceness.

1612 Chapman Widow's Tears sig. I, O happy starres. And now pardon, Ladie; me thinks these [kisses] are all of a peece. 1632 Massinger City Madam i. iii, I have seen and heard all..and wish heartily You were all of a piece. 1639 N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Wom. ii. 23 Those Nations who make their Doublet and Shirt all of a peece. 1644 Digby Nat. Bodies xii. §3. 102 To moue all of a piece. 1663 Butler Hud. i. ii. 448 He and his Horse were of a Piece, One Spirit did inform them both. 1700 Dryden Pref. Fables Wks. (Globe) 503 He writes not always of a piece, but sometimes mingles trivial things with those of greater moment. 1726 Swift Gulliver i. ii, One of them was covered, and seemed all of a-piece. 1809 M. Edgeworth Absentee vi, After all, things were not of a piece. 1812 P. Hawker Diary (1893) I. 51 The harness..second-hand, one horse in plated, another in brass harness, and, in short, all of a piece. 1912 Galsworthy Sheaf (1916) 21 Odd how all of a piece taste is! 1914 G. B. Shaw Misalliance 71 It's all of a piece here. The men effeminate, the women unsexed. 1924 Galsworthy Forest ii. i. 35 An expedition like this has to be all of a piece, in the leader's hand. 1938 W. S. Maughan Summing Up xvii. 58, I think what has chiefly struck me in beings is their lack of consistency. I have never seen people all of a piece. 1956 A. Wilson Anglo-Saxon Att. ii. ii. 318 Goodness isn't all of a piece..any more than badness. 1958 New Statesman 20 Dec. 88/1 What is remarkable about this remarkable musical is its all-of-a-pieceness. 1960 Times 1 Nov. 16/1 He is a convincing all-of-a-piece characterization. 1962 Times 6 Apr. 20/1 A corresponding all-of-a-piece protein.

    b. of a piece with.

1665 Boyle Occas. Refl. iv. ii. (1848) 176 None appear'd more of a piece with the Earth than he. 1711 Addison Spect. No. 256 ¶3 It is not of a Piece with the rest of his Character. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. ii. I. 233 All their proceedings were of a piece with this demand. 1916 Galsworthy Caravan (1925) 579 Mr. Bosengate looked at this peach with sorrow rather than disgust. The perfection of it was of a piece with all that had gone before this new and sudden feeling. 1957 G. Ryle in C. A. Mace Brit. Philos. in Mid-Cent. 258 The assumption that doing philosophy..is of a piece with doing natural science. 1977 G. Butler Brides of Friedberg iii. 59 How like the innocent Empress Frederick to lease such a place for me. But it was entirely of a piece with all one knew of her.

    † c. o pece, opece, opese: see 14 b.
    22. piece by piece († piece and piece, Sc. obs.): one piece or part after another in succession; a piece at a time, piecemeal, little by little, gradually. [F. pièce à pièce.]

1560 Bible (Genev.) Ezek. xxiv. 6 Bring it out piece by piece. 1621 Quarles Argalus & P. (1678) 115 Peece by peece they dropt upon the ground. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. 65 Had the calm Weather held I should have brought away the whole Ship Piece by Piece. 1877 Spurgeon Serm. XXIII. 208 The great architect unrolls his drawings piece by piece.

1533 Bellenden Livy iii. iii. (S.T.S.) I. 252 Fra thens þe pepill began Ilk day pece & pece to convaless in þare bodyis fra all maledyis. a 1584 Montgomerie Cherrie & Slae 273, I felt My hart within my bosome melt, And pece and pece decay. 1681 S. Colvil Whigs Supplic. (1751) 121 Then piece and piece they dropt away, As ripe plumbs in a rainy day. 1721 Wodrow Corr. (1843) II. 550 Piece and piece as your leisure allows, pray send me what hath been remarkable as to religion and learning this last year.

    IV. 23. attrib. and Comb.: piece-bag, box U.S., a bag or box for holding pieces of cloth; piece-bright a. (poet. nonce-use), ? bright here and there; piece-compositor, a compositor who is paid by the piece; piece-dye v. trans., to dye (cloth) after it is woven; piece-dyed a., of cloth, dyed after it is woven; so piece-dyeing; piece-fraction, in Typog. (see quot.); piece-hall, an exchange where cloth is sold by the piece; piece hand = piece-compositor; piece-knife (see quot.); piece-labour, labour paid by the piece; piece-looker, an inspector of cloth woven in definite lengths; piece-maker, -man = piece-worker; piece-market, the market for cloth sold by the piece; piece-master, a middleman who acts between the employer and the employed in the giving out of piece-work; † piece-money, money distributed to recipients at so much apiece; piece-mould, in Sculpture, a plaster-of-Paris mould, removed in pieces, and then fitted together; also, a mould consisting of separate pieces of metal, etc., which are fitted and beaten together upon the model; piece-patch, a piece inserted as a patch; piece-patched a., patched up; piece-payment, payment by the piece; piece picker = fleece picker s.v. fleece n. 6; piece-price, a price paid for piece-work; piece-rate, rate of payment for piece-work; also attrib.; piece-stuff, lumber or timber in pieces; piece-trade, the trade in pieces of cloth; piece-velvet, velvet made in the piece of various widths (as distinguished from narrow ribbon-velvet, etc.); piece-wage, a wage paid by the piece of work; pieceways U.S. dial. = piece n. 14 c. See also piece-broker, -goods, etc.

1869 L. M. Alcott Little Women II. i. 11 So rich a supply of dusters, holders, and *piece-bags. 1900 E. A. Dix Deacon Bradbury 251 Mr. Bradbury..sought his wife, who was upstairs sorting over her piece-bag.

1898 M. Deland Old Chester Tales 272 It has been lying there in my *piece-box for six years.

1877 G. M. Hopkins Poems (1967) 67 This *piece-bright paling shuts the spouse Christ home.

1897 Westm. Gaz. 6 July 10/1 It took time, and time to the *piece compositor..means bread.

1931 E. Midgley Technical Terms Textile Trade I. 10 The cloth is woven in a white or undyed condition and *piece-dyed black for wool, so that the cotton fibres remain their natural colour. 1962 W. J. Onions Wool xi. 253 Interesting coloured effects may also be obtained by piece-dyeing cloth already made up of white and coloured yarn. 1978 Country Life 9 Nov. 1494/2 The fabric..is now finished and piece-dyed in Huddersfield.

1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iii. 97 The wool being always dyed either in the state of wool, before spinning, or after being woven. This gives rise to the distinction between ‘wool-dyed’ cloth and ‘*piece-dyed’ cloth.

1898 Westm. Gaz. 13 Dec. 8/1 The Bradford *piece-dyeing trade.

1900 De Vinne Pract. Typogr. 174 *Piece fractions, or split fractions in two pieces, or on two bodies, are not proper parts of the font, and are sold in separate fonts at higher rates.

1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. iv. 119 Instead of having a cloth-hall or a *piece-hall of its own, its productions are sent to one or other of those two towns for sale at the piece-halls. 1849 C. Brontë Shirley iv, The tradesman in the Piece Hall, i.e. the Cloth Exchange.

1890 in E. Howe London Compositor (1947) 316 The rapid growth of the 'stab system has rendered the condition of the *piece hand in many instances almost unbearable. 1947 E. Howe Ibid. 60 The piece-hand could reckon to earn more [than the establishment wage], by the exercise of both energy and skill. 1965 J. S. Gunn Terminol. Shearing Industry ii. 8 Piece picker, sometimes called the ‘fleece picker’ or ‘fleecy’, his main job is to take the skirting from the roller and to divide it into lines defined by the classer, for example ‘broken wool’, ‘first pieces’..and ‘pieces’.

1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 17 The *piece-knives, or sportsmans' knives, as those complex articles containing saws, lancets, phlemes, gun-screw, punches, large and small blades, &c. used to be called.

1866 Rogers Agric. & Prices I. xv. 252 For the most part day labour. The other two are *piece labour.

1867 Address to J. Bright in Morn. Star 28 Jan., J. Moloney, *piece looker.

1895 Daily News 13 Mar. 3/1 To obtain a piecework statement to be based upon a *piecemaker's average.

Ibid. 11 Mar. 3/3 The Union notice to the *piece-men being circulated.

1883 Ibid. 28 Sept. 2/7 The *piece market is without material alteration.

1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 256 The abolition of the middleman, whether ‘sweater’, ‘*piece master’, ‘lumper’ or what not, coming between the employer and employed. 1890 Pall Mall G. 11 Mar. 7/1 The present sweating piece-master system.

1610 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., Item payd in *pesse mony xvijs. vjd. 1642 Ibid., Payed to 38 brothers and sisters for peesmoney xixs.

1895 Daily News 20 June 6/3 A *piece-mould is made upon the statue itself, and from this a hollow wax statue is cast.

1880 Plain Hints Needlework 27 A straight stitch 6 or 8 threads deep on each *piece-patch and material.

a 1625 Fletcher Bloody Bro. ii. i, This *piece-patcht friendship, This rear'd-up reconcilement on a billow.

1903 Daily Chron. 11 July 3/7 London daily newspapers are.. produced on a *piece payment system.

1895 Westm. Gaz. 21 Mar. 2/2 The question which underlies all surface disputes is that of fixing *piece-prices for the new machinery which is being introduced into the trade.

1892 Pall Mall G. 27 July 1/2 A reduction in the *piece-rates per ton at certain furnaces. 1954 J. A. C. Brown Social Psychol. of Industry vi. 181 Workers..who are paid on an individual piece-rate basis. 1955 Times 3 May 10/1 The men allege that the piece-rate schedules are out of date and demand a revision. 1976 Ilkeston Advertiser 10 Dec. 2/2 Why is a factory worker who fiddles a 25p piece-rate coupon sacked on the spot, whereas his factory manager who fiddles his expense accounts to the tune of several pounds each week gets away with it?

1881 Chicago Times 14 May, The cargo..consisting of short length *piece-stuff.

1891 Times 5 Oct. 4/3 There is no change to note in the *piece trade.

1872 Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 246 The *piece-velvets and the linens smote her to the heart. 1879 Mrs. A. G. F. E. James Ind. Househ. Managem. 17 Buy also some piece-velvet, silk, ribbon, flowers, feathers, net,..bonnet and cap wire.

1900 Fabian News Sept. 28/2 This ‘log’..is ‘a remarkable effort to adjust a *piece-wage rate on a time-wage basis’.

1932 W. Faulkner Light in August i. 9, I was trying to get up the road a *pieceways before dark.

    24. a. Piece is often the second element in a combination, in various senses, e.g. back-piece, base-piece, bodice-piece, breech-piece, catch-piece, ear-piece, eye-piece, franc-piece, head-piece, penny-piece, etc. See the first element.
    b. With prefixed numeral, forming attributive phrases, as one-piece, three-piece, etc.: see the first element.
    Hence (rare or nonce-wds.) ˈpieceless a., without pieces or parts; ˈpiecely adv., in pieces.

a 1631 Donne To C'tess Bedford Poems (1650) 181 In those poore types of God (round circles) so Religions types the peecelesse centers flow. 1552 Huloet, Piecelye, or in pieces, concise, frustatim.

    [Note. L. Pecia, in sense of ‘fragment’, occurs in the Salic Law (a 596, MSS. 5 and 6, c 800) lx, (Ibi iiii Fustes alninos super caput suum frangere debet et illos in quattuor pecias [earlier and later recensions partes] per quattuor angulos iactare debet); petia, petium, in sense ‘piece of land’, appear in Muratori Ant. Ital. a.d. 730 ‘et alia petia’, 757 ‘uno petio de terra’ (Diez); see also many later med.L. instances in Du Cange. The ulterior source has been the subject of much research: see Diez s.v. Pezza; Scheler, Littré, Hatz-Darm. s.v. Pièce; Körting s.v. pett- (7106); Thurneysen s.v. Pezza. The prevalent opinion is that late pop.L. *pettia, -ium, were derived from a Brythonic stem pett(i-, represented by Breton pez a piece, Welsh and Cornish peth a part, cognate with proto-Celtic *quett(i-, whence *cotti-, in OIr. cuit, genitive cota, mod. Gaelic cuid part, share; but there are many difficulties. A very frequent early sense in OF. was that of ‘portion or space of time’ (see Godef.) = 14 above. The sense ‘person’, found so early in Eng., is not met with in French till late in 16th c.]
    
    

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     ▸ piece of piss n. Brit., Austral., and N.Z. slang (orig. R.A.F.) something very easily accomplished; = a piece of cake at cake n. 7c.

1949 E. Partridge Dict. Slang (ed. 3) Add. 1134/2 Piece of piss, a ‘piece of cake’... R.A.F.: 1940+. 1974J. Anthoine in H. MacInnes Climb to Lost World (1976) x. 182 There was a real awkward bit; then the next twenty foot was a piece of piss and I thought: ‘Oh, great, we've cracked it.’ 1981 G. Johnston Fish Factory 84 I've got it all worked out and your part is a piece of piss. 1997 T3 Jan. 89/3 If you own the right gear, making dance music is a piece of piss.

▪ II. piece, v.
    (piːs)
    [f. prec. n.]
    I. 1. a. trans. To mend, repair, make whole, or complete by adding a piece or pieces; to patch.

c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 41 Þei may pese hem aȝen or cloute hem of sacchis & oþere pecis. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 388/2 Pecyn, or set pecys to a thynge, or clowtyn, repecio,..sarcio, reficio. 1530 Palsgr. 655/1, I pece a thyng, I sette on a pece... If it be broken it muste be peced, sil est rompu il le fault piecer. 1596 Shakes. Tam. Shr. iii. ii. 63 Petruchio is comming..with..one girth sixe times peec'd, and a womans Crupper..heere and there peec'd with pack-thred. 1601 Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 135 For picing a bell clapper that brake when Andrew Hawkins was buried, xijd. 1775 F. Burney Early Diary 28 Feb., She was piecing a blue and white tissue with a large patch of black silk! 1884 Harper's Mag. July 306 It's nothin' but play, piecin' quilts.

    b. fig.

1606 Shakes. Ant. & Cl. i. v. 45, I will peece Her opulent Throne, with Kingdomes. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. i, To paint the world, and piece the length'ning day.

    2. a. To join, unite or put together, so as to form one piece; to mend (something broken) by joining the pieces; also absol. in spinning, to join or piece up threads, to work as a piecer.

1483 Cath. Angl. 272/2 To Pece, assuere. 1559 Ludlow Churchw. Acc. (Camden) 90 Payd for a rope to pysse the lyttelle belle rope. 1637 Suckling Aglaura v. i, There is no piecing Tulips to their stalks When they are once divorc'd by a rude hand. 1793 Smeaton Edystone L. §138, I found the seamen..employed in piecing the ground cable, which..had again parted. 1819 Evidence fr. Rep. Committee Ho. Lords, ‘How do they get their breakfast and afternoon meal?’ ‘..When the machinery is moving, they eat it as they are piecing’. 1859 Mrs. Gaskell Round the Sofa 35, I cannot piece the leg as the doctor can.

    b. fig. To put together, join, unite; refl. to join oneself to, unite with.

1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue Ep. Ded. *iij b, To peece vnto themselues this their broken Religion. 1632 B. Jonson Magn. Lady iii. i, Item. I heard they were out. Nee. But they are pieced, and put together again. 1652–62 Heylin Cosmogr. iii. (1673) 5/2 This Prusias, when the Romans became so considerable..pieced himself with them. 1656 ― Surv. France 214 She hath peeced her self to the strongest side of the State. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. i. 661 His judgment yet his memory did excel, Which pieced his wondrous evidence so well. 1879 G. Meredith Egoist xxiv, Piecing fragments of empty signification.

    † 3. intr. To unite, come together, assemble; to come to an agreement, agree; to join on. Obs.

1622 Bacon Hen. VII 23 It pieced better and followed more close and handsomely vpon the bruit of Plantagenet's escape. 1625 ― Ess., Innovations (Arb.) 526 New Things peece not so well. 1636 Sir H. Wotton in Lismore Papers Ser. ii. (1888) III. 260 Owre Schoole Annually breaketh vp two weekes before Whitsontyde and peeceth agayne a fortnight after. 1692 R. L'Estrange Josephus, Antiq. xvi. viii. (1733) 434 Telling him..that things would mend in Time, and Friends piece again, if they could but come to..a fair Understanding.

    II. In combination with adverbs.
    4. piece down. trans. and intr. To increase the length or width of (a garment) by the insertion of a piece of material.

1870 J. P. Smith Widow Goldsmith's Daughter vi. 80 Mrs. Goldsmith's economy would not permit her to cast aside any garment that could be pieced down. 1903 K. D. Wiggin Rebecca xvii. 176 The limit of letting down and piecing down was reached.

    5. piece in. a. trans. To join in, add by insertion; † b. intr. To join in (in action), unite (obs.).

a 1656 Hales Gold. Rem. i. (1673) 247 He that can comply, and peice in with all occasions, and make an easie forfeiture of his honesty. 1724 De Foe Mem. Cavalier ii. 187 The..Officers..pieced in some Troops with those Regiments.

    6. piece on. trans. and intr. To fit on (as the corresponding piece).

1849 H. Miller Footpr. Creat. iv. (1874) 45 The super-occipital bone..pieces on to the superior frontal. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. III. xii. 218 It is so hard to fix the date of the event, or to piece it on in any way to the undoubted facts of the history, that [etc.].

    7. piece out. trans. To complete, eke out, extend, or enlarge by the addition of a piece.

1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie ii. xiv. (Arb.) 138 Ye may note..how much better some bissillable becommeth to peece out an other longer foote then another word doth. 1639 Fuller Holy War iv. xxix. (1840) 232 Like a cordial given to a dying man, which doth piece out his life. 1643 Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. i. §18 He..pieces out the defect of one by the excess of the other. 1728 Young Love Fame v. 436 The motion of her lips, and meaning eye, Piece out the idea her faint words deny. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-Bks. I. 133 The old Pons Emilius..has recently been pieced out by connecting a suspension bridge with the old piers.

    8. piece together. trans. To join together, combine (pieces or fragments) into a whole; to make up of pieces so combined.

1589 Puttenham Eng. Poesie iii. ix. (Arb.) 168 To peece many words together to make of them one entire, much more significatiue than the single word. 1618 Bolton Florus (1636) 235 Himselfe..peeceth together no lesse an army than the former mad-man. 1687 A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 134 Cut out of the natural Rock..though it seem to be of five Stones pieced together one upon another. 1865 Merivale Rom. Emp. VIII. lxiii. 65 Our account of his exploits..must be..pieced imperfectly together.

    9. a. piece up. trans. To make up (esp. that which is broken); to repair by uniting the pieces, parts, or parties; to patch up.

1586 A. Day Eng. Secretary i. (1625) 75 Let these..constraine thee..whilst there is yet but one craze..in the touch⁓stone of thy reputation, piece it vp & new flourish again by a great excellency. 1625 Bacon Ess., Unity Relig. (Arb.) 429 When it is peeced vp, vpon a direct Admission of Contraries. 1630 R. Johnson's Kingd. & Commw. 368 All being now piec't up betweene them. c 1645 Howell Lett. I. iv. xx. (1650) 124 'Tis thought the French King will peece him up again with new recruits. 1794 Burke Corr. (1844) IV. 213 They will of course endeavour to piece up their own broken connexions in England. 1884 Pall Mall G. 20 Nov. 3/2 Arranging, disposing, and piecing up these fragments.

    b. intr. To make up matters, come to an arrangement.

1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. Bentivoglio's Warrs Flanders 212 By all means it was necessary to piece up with Alanson.

Oxford English Dictionary