piece
English[編集]
Alternative forms[編集]
- peece (obsolete)
Etymology[編集]
From Middle English pece, peece, peice, from Old French piece, from Late Latin petia, pettia, possibly from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷesdis (“piece, portion”); doublet of English fit, fytte, fytt (“musical piece, chapter”), Icelandic fit (“web”), German Fitze (“skein”), from Old High German *fitjâ. Compare Welsh peth, Breton pez (“thing”), Irish cuid. Compare French pièce, Portuguese peça, Spanish pieza.
Pronunciation[編集]
Noun[編集]
piece (plural pieces)
- A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.
- I’d like another piece of pie.
- I’m a piece of humanity.
- 1624, John Donne, “17. Meditation”, in Deuotions upon Emergent Occasions, and Seuerall Steps in My Sicknes: […], London: Printed by A[ugustine] M[atthews] for Thomas Iones, OCLC 55189476; republished as Geoffrey Keynes, John Sparrow, editor, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions: […], Cambridge: At the University Press, 1923, OCLC 459265555, lines 2–3, page 98:
- No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; […]
- A single item belonging to a class of similar items
- a piece of machinery
- a piece of software
- a useful piece of advice
- 2013 July 20, “Welcome to the plastisphere”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8845:
- [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, […]
- (chess) One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; by extension, a similar counter etc. in other games.
- 1959, Hans Kmoch, Pawn Power in Chess, I:
- Pawns, unlike pieces, move only in one direction: forward.
- 1959, Hans Kmoch, Pawn Power in Chess, I:
- A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
- a sixpenny piece
- An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:musical composition
- She played two beautiful pieces on the piano.
- An article published in the press.
- Today's paper has an interesting piece on medical research.
- (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, London, p. 55,[1]
- […] 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.
- 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 55,[1]
- (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.
- (US, Canada, colloquial, short for hairpiece) A toupee or wig, especially when worn by a man.
- The announcer is wearing a new piece.
- (Scotland, Ireland, Britain, 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 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.
- 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, page 46:
- (US, colloquial, vulgar) A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail
- I got a piece at lunchtime.
- (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.
- (US, slang) A cannabis pipe.
- (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 got.
- he got a piece of that one; she got a piece of the ball […] and it's going foul.
- (dated, sometimes derogatory) An individual; a person.
- c. 1579, Philip Sidney, The Defense of Poesy
- If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him.
- 1610–1611, William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iv]:
- Thy mother was a piece of virtue.
- 1825, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Aid to Reflection
- His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.
- c. 1579, Philip Sidney, The Defense of Poesy
- (obsolete) A castle; a fortified building.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)
- (US) A pacifier; a dummy.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pacifier
- (colloquial) A distance.
- a far piece
- located a fair piece away from their camp
- a fair piece off
- (rowing) A structured practice row, often used for performance evaluation.
- At practice we rowed four 5,000 meter pieces.
- That last piece was torture.
- An amount of work to be done at one time; a unit of piece work.
Synonyms[編集]
- See also Thesaurus:piece
Usage notes[編集]
When used as a baseball term, the term is figurative in that the baseball is almost never broken into pieces. It is rare in modern baseball for the cover of a baseball to even partially tear loose. In professional baseball, several new, not previously played baseballs are used in each game.
It could be argued that the phrase was never meant (not even metaphorically) to refer to breaking the ball into pieces, and that "get a piece of the ball" means the bat contacts only a small area of the ball - in other words, that the ball is hit off-center. In that case "get" would mean "succeed in hitting", not "obtain".
Derived terms[編集]
- afterpiece
- altarpiece
- apiece
- backpiece
- bailpiece
- battle piece
- bits and pieces
- broadpiece
- by the piece
- centrepiece
- cheekpiece
- chess piece
- chimneypiece
- codpiece
- conversation piece
- crosspiece
- crown piece
- earpiece
- end piece
- eyepiece
- fashion piece
- fieldpiece
- fowling piece
- frontipiece
- furpiece
- give someone a piece of one's mind
- gold piece
- go to pieces
- hairpiece
- headpiece
- heelpiece
- hit piece
- H-piece
- kneepiece
- mantelpiece
- masking piece
- masterpiece
- minor piece
- mistresspiece
- museum piece
- neckpiece
- nosepiece
- of a piece
- one-piece
- opinion piece
- party piece
- period piece
- piece bag
- piece-dye
- pieceless
- piecemeal
- piecen
- piece of ass
- piece of cake
- piece of clothing
- piece of crap
- piece of crumpet
- piece of eight
- piece of furniture
- piece of garbage
- piece of ground
- piece of meat
- piece of paper
- piece of piss
- piece of pork
- piece of shit
- piece of tail
- piece of the action
- piece of the pie
- piece of trash
- piece of work
- piece rate
- piece to camera
- piecewise
- piece work
- piecework
- pole piece
- puff piece
- return piece
- say one's piece
- sea piece
- set piece
- showpiece
- sidepiece
- side piece
- siege piece
- Staunton piece
- straining piece
- stringpiece
- tailpiece
- think piece
- three-piece suit
- three-piece suite
- timepiece
- top piece
- T-piece
- two-piece
- workpiece
See also[編集]
Chess pieces in English · chess pieces, chessmen (see also: chess) (layout · text) | |||||
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king | queen | castle, rook | bishop | knight | pawn |
Translations[編集]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
See also[編集]
Verb[編集]
piece (third-person singular simple present pieces, present participle piecing, simple past and past participle pieced)
- (transitive, usually with together) To assemble (something real or figurative).
- These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.
- 1655, Thomas Fuller, Church-History of Britain
- His adversaries […] pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.
- To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out.
- to piece a garment
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
- (slang) To produce a work of graffiti more complex than a tag.
- 2009, Gregory J. Snyder, Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground, page 40:
- It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.
- 2009, Scape Martinez, GRAFF: The Art & Technique of Graffiti, page 124:
- It is often used to collect other writer's tags, and future plans for bombing and piecing.
Derived terms[編集]
Middle French[編集]
Etymology[編集]
From Old French piece, from Vulgar Latin *pettia, from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷesdis (“piece, portion”).
Noun[編集]
piece f (plural pieces)
- piece, bit, part
- moment (duration of time)
- 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 75:
- Grant piece dura celle meslee
- The battle lasted a long time
Descendants[編集]
- French: pièce
References[編集]
- piece on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)
Old French[編集]
Alternative forms[編集]
Etymology[編集]
From Late Latin pettia, from Gaulish *pettyā, from Proto-Celtic *kʷesdis (“piece, portion”).
Noun[編集]
piece f (oblique plural pieces, nominative singular piece, nominative plural pieces)
- piece, bit, part
- circa 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:
- Que del hiaume une piece tranche.
- It cuts a piece off his helmet
- Que del hiaume une piece tranche.
Descendants[編集]
Polish[編集]
Pronunciation[編集]
Noun[編集]
piece m inan
- inflection of piec:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Late Latin
- English terms derived from Gaulish
- English terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English words following the I before E except after C rule
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- en:Chess
- en:Military
- American English
- English colloquialisms
- Canadian English
- Scottish English
- Irish English
- British English
- English dialectal terms
- English vulgarities
- English slang
- en:Baseball
- English uncountable nouns
- English dated terms
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- en:Rowing
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Middle French terms derived from Gaulish
- Middle French terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French nouns
- Middle French feminine nouns
- Middle French countable nouns
- Middle French terms with quotations
- Old French terms inherited from Late Latin
- Old French terms derived from Late Latin
- Old French terms derived from Gaulish
- Old French terms derived from Proto-Celtic
- Old French lemmas
- Old French nouns
- Old French feminine nouns
- Polish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Polish non-lemma forms
- Polish noun forms