piece

piece¹ W1S1 [pi:s] n

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1¦(amount)¦

2¦(part)¦

3¦(single item)¦

4¦(small amount)¦

5¦(land)¦

6 fall to pieces

7 go to pieces

8 smash/rip/tear something to pieces

9 pull/rip/tear somebody/something to pieces

10¦(art/music etc)¦

11¦(news item)¦

12 in one piece

13 give somebody a piece of your mind

14 be a piece of cake

15 be a piece of piss

16 a piece of the action

17 be (all) of a piece

18¦(money)¦

19¦(games)¦

20¦(gun)¦

21 be a piece of shit/crap

22 piece of ass

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[Date: 1100-1200; : Old French; Origin: Vulgar Latin pettia]

1.) ¦(AMOUNT)¦

an amount of something that has been separated from the main part

piece of

▪ He broke off a piece of bread and gave it her.

▪ Cut off a piece of wood 5 cm in length.

▪ His trousers were held up with a piece of string.

▪ Would you like a small or a large piece?

cut/divide etc sth into pieces

▪ She cut the cake into four equal pieces.

▪ Chop the potato into bite-sized pieces.

2.) ¦(PART)¦

one of the parts that something divides or breaks into

piece of

▪ a piece of broken glass

▪ Individual pieces of text can be cut and pasted to their correct position.

in pieces

▪ The china dish lay in pieces on the floor.

▪ jigsaw pieces

▪ His father had taught him how to take a gun to pieces .

▪ The shelving comes to pieces (=divides into separate parts) for easy transport.

▪ The shower head just came to pieces (=broke into separate parts) in my hand.

▪ The fireplace was carefully dismantled piece by piece (=one part at a time) .

3.) ¦(SINGLE ITEM)¦

a single thing of a particular type, or something that is one of several similar things

piece of

▪ Pass me another piece of paper.

▪ You should eat three pieces of fruit a day.

▪ She was wearing a single piece of jewellery.

▪ You need to examine every piece of evidence first.

▪ an excellent piece of work

▪ a major piece of legislation

▪ a piece of equipment

four-piece/60-piece etc

(=consisting of four, 60 etc separate parts)

▪ a five-piece band

▪ a three-piece suite (=two chairs and asofa)

4.) ¦(SMALL AMOUNT)¦ [usually singular]

a small amount of something that is interesting, useful, or unusual in some way

piece of advice/information/gossip etc

▪ Let me give you a piece of advice.

▪ We're witnessing a piece of history in the making.

piece of luck/good fortune

▪ It really was an extraordinary piece of luck.

5.) ¦(LAND)¦

an area of land

piece of

▪ a piece of waste ground

▪ a dispute about a piece of land

6.) fall to pieces

a) to become old and in bad condition

▪ All my clothes are falling to pieces.

▪ They've let that lovely old house fall to pieces around them.

b) to no longer be successful or working well

▪ The economy is falling to pieces.

7.) go to pieces

if a person or what they do goes to pieces, they are so upset or nervous that they cannot live, work, or perform as they should

▪ He just went to pieces after his wife died.

▪ Her performance goes to pieces when her father is watching.

8.) smash/rip/tear sth to pieces

to damage something badly by breaking it into many parts

▪ His arm was ripped to pieces by a shark.

▪ Wear thick gloves, otherwise you'll tear your fingers to pieces.

9.) pull/rip/tear sb/sth to pieces

to criticize someone or their ideas very severely

▪ Donna could tear your work to pieces, and frequently did.

10.)¦(ART/MUSIC ETC)¦

something that has been produced by an artist, musician, or writer

piece of music/writing/sculpture etc

▪ some unusual pieces of sculpture

▪ The LSO will perform a much-loved concert piece.

11.) ¦(NEWS ITEM)¦

a short ↑article in a newspaper or magazine or part of a television or radio programme that is about a particular subject

piece about/on

▪ Did you read that piece in the Observer about censorship?

▪ Robert wrote a short piece on the earthquake.

12.) in one piece informal

if you arrive somewhere in one piece, you are not injured

▪ Cheer up. At least you're still in one piece .

▪ Ring mum and let her know we got here in one piece .

13.) give sb a piece of your mind informal

to tell someone that you are very angry with them

▪ After the game he gave the players a piece of his mind.

14.) be a piece of cake informal

to be very easy to do

▪ Landing this type of aircraft is a piece of cake for an experienced pilot.

15.) be a piece of piss

BrE spoken not polite to be very easy to do

16.) a piece of the action informal

a share of the money from a business activity

▪ And will foreign firms get a piece of the action ?

17.) be (all) of a piece

a) if the things someone says or does are all of a piece, they are part of the typical behaviour of that person

be (all) of a piece with

▪ Sexist language is all of a piece with the way some men treat women.

b) to be the same or similar in all parts

▪ The architecture here is all of a piece.

18.) ¦(MONEY)¦

a) a coin of a particular value

ten pence/fifty-cent etc piece

▪ Have you change for a 50-cent piece?

b) old use a coin

▪ Robert slipped two gold pieces into the man's hand.

19.) ¦(GAMES)¦

a small object used in a game such as ↑chess

20.)¦(GUN)¦

AmE informal a small gun

21.) be a piece of shit/crap

spoken not polite used to show that you do not respect someone or something they say

22.) piece of ass

AmE informal not polite an offensive expression for a woman. Do not use this expression.

→how long is a piece of string? at ↑long¹ (9)

piece ²

piece² v

piece together [piece sth<=>together] phr v

1.) to use all the information you have about a situation in order to discover the truth about it

▪ Police are trying to piece together his movements before the murder.

▪ Her early life has been pieced together from several different sources.

2.) to put all the separate parts of an object into the correct order or position

▪ He slowly pieced together the torn fragments of a letter.