01 n. A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion; …
-
1.
A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion; as, a piece of sugar; to break in pieces.“Bring it out piece by piece.” — Ezek. xxiv. 6.
-
2.
A definite portion or quantity, as of goods or work; as, a piece of broadcloth; a piece of wall paper.
-
3.
Any one thing conceived of as apart from other things of the same kind; an individual article; a distinct single effort of a series; a definite performance
-
4.
An individual; -- applied to a person as being of a certain nature or quality; often, but not always, used slightingly or in contempt.“Thy mother was a piece of virtue.” — Shak.“His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.” — Coleridge.
-
5.
One of the superior men, distinguished from a pawn.(Chess)
-
6.
A castle; a fortified building.[Obs.]
Phrases & compounds
Of a piece —
of the same sort, as if taken from the same whole; like; -- sometimes followed by with.
Piece of eight —
the Spanish piaster, formerly divided into eight reals.
To give a piece of one's mind to —
to speak plainly, bluntly, or severely to (another).
Piece broker —
one who buys shreds and remnants of cloth to sell again.
Piece goods —
goods usually sold by pieces or fixed portions, as shirtings, calicoes, sheetings, and the like.