-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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bring it out piece by piece. Ezek. xxiv. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A definite portion or quantity, as of goods or work; as, a piece of broadcloth; a piece of wall paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy mother was a piece of virtue. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

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5. (Chess) One of the superior men, distinguished from a pawn. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A castle; a fortified building. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To unite by a coalescence of parts; to fit together; to join. “It pieced better.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not made of pieces; whole; entire. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In pieces; piecemeal. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Made up of parts or pieces; single; separate. “These piecemeal guilts.” Gov. of Tongue. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ OE. pecemele; pece a piece + AS. m&unr_;lum, dat. pl. of m&unr_;l part. See Meal a portion. ] 1. In pieces; in parts or fragments. “On which it piecemeal brake.” Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

The beasts will tear thee piecemeal. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Piece by piece; by little and little in succession. [ 1913 Webster ]

Piecemeal they win, this acre first, than that. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A fragment; a scrap. R. Vaughan. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Divided into pieces. [ 1913 Webster ]