museum piece

English

Etymology

Referring to the preservation of historic artifacts in museums.

Pronunciation

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Noun

museum piece (plural museum pieces)

1. An item worthy of being kept by a museum.
   • 1950 October, H. C. Casserley, “Locomotive Cavalcade, 1920-1950—4”, in Railway Magazine, page 660:

     These excursions proved popular, and it is, perhaps, not too much to hope that British Railways will revive the idea, and use museum pieces to stage exhibitions of trains of bygone days.

2. (slang) A very old item, especially an obsolete piece of technology.

   Jim's car is a real museum piece.

   A Sinclair Spectrum computer is now just a museum piece.

Translations

old item

• Czech: muzeální kousek
• German: Museumsstück (de) n