Piece (?), n. [OE. pece, F.
pièce, LL. pecia, petia, petium,
probably of Celtic origin; cf. W. peth a thing, a part,
portion, a little, Armor. pez, Gael. & Ir. cuid part,
share. Cf. Petty.] 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; especially:
(a) A literary or artistic composition; as, a
piece of poetry, music, or statuary. (b)
A musket, gun, or cannon; as, a battery of six pieces; a
following piece. (c) A coin; as, a
sixpenny piece; -- formerly applied specifically to an English
gold coin worth 22 shillings. (d) A fact;
an item; as, a piece of news; a piece of
knowledge.
4. An individual; -- applied to a person as
being of a certain nature or quality; often, but not always, used
slightingly or in contempt. "If I had not been a piece of
a logician before I came to him." Sir P. Sidney.
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. (Chess) One of the superior men,
distinguished from a pawn.
6. A castle; a fortified building.
[Obs.] Spenser.
Of a piece, of the same sort, as if taken
from the same whole; like; -- sometimes followed by with.
Dryden. -- 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). Thackeray. -- 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.
Piece, v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Pieced (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Piecing (?).] 1. To make, enlarge, or
repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; as, to
piece a garment; -- often with out.
Shak.
2. To unite; to join; to combine.
Fuller.
His adversaries . . . pieced themselves together
in a joint opposition against him.
Fuller.Piece (?), v. i. To unite by a
coalescence of parts; to fit together; to join. "It
pieced better." Bacon.