What does piece mean?

What does piece mean?. The world's largest and most trusted free online dictionary: definitions, synonyms, word origins, example sentences, word games, and more.

What does piece mean? - The Free Dictionary

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[n] a separate part of a whole(an important piece of the evidence)[v] to join or unite the pieces of(patch the skirt)[n] an item that is an instance of some type(he designed a new piece of equipment she bought a lovely piece of china)[v] create by putting components or members together(She

piece

piece - The Free Dictionary

[n] a separate part of a whole
(an important piece of the evidence)

[v] to join or unite the pieces of
(patch the skirt)

[n] an item that is an instance of some type
(he designed a new piece of equipment she bought a lovely piece of china)

[v] create by putting components or members together
(She pieced a quilt He tacked together some verses They set up a committee)

[n] a portion of a natural object
(they analyzed the river into three parts he needed a piece of granite)

[v] join during spinning
(piece the broken pieces of thread, slivers, and rovings)

[n] a musical work that has been created
(the composition is written in four movements)

[v] eat intermittently; take small bites of
(He pieced at the sandwich all morning She never eats a full meal--she just nibbles)

[n] an instance of some kind
(it was a nice piece of work he had a bit of good luck)

[v] repair by adding pieces
(She pieced the china cup)

[n] an artistic or literary composition
(he wrote an interesting piece on Iran the children acted out a comic piece to amuse the guests)

[n] a portable gun
(he wore his firearm in a shoulder holster)

[n] a serving that has been cut from a larger portion
(a piece of pie a slice of bread)

[n] a distance
(it is down the road a piece)

[n] a work of art of some artistic value
(this store sells only objets d'art it is not known who created this piece)

[n] a period of indeterminate length (usually short) marked by some action or condition
(he was here for a little while I need to rest for a piece a spell of good weather a patch of bad weather)

[n] a share of something
(a slice of the company's revenue)

[n] game equipment consisting of an object used in playing certain board games
(he taught me to set up the men on the chess board he sacrificed a piece to get a strategic advantage)

Other vocabulary

p, p-n junction, p-n-p transistor, p-type semiconductor, p. g. wodehouse, p. p. von mauser, p. t. barnum, p.a., p.a. system, p.e., p.m., p.o., p/e ratio, pa, pa system, pa'anga, paba, pabir, pablo casals, pablo neruda, pablo picasso, pablum, pabulum, pac, pac-man strategy, paca, pace, pace car, pace lap, pacemaker, i, i chronicles, i corinthians, i esdra, i john, i kings, i maccabees, i peter, i samuel, i thessalonians, i timothy, i-beam, i. a. richards, i. f. stone, i. m. pei, i.d., i.e., i.e.d., i.q., i.w.w., ia, iaa, iaea, iago, iamb, iambic, iambus, ian douglas smith, ian fleming, ian lancaster fleming

Dictionary

A dictionary is a listing of lexemes from the lexicon of one or more specific languages, often arranged alphabetically (or by consonantal root for Semitic languages or radical and stroke for ideographic languages), which may include information on definitions, usage, etymologies, pronunciations, translation, etc. It is a lexicographical reference that shows inter-relationships among the data.

A broad distinction is made between general and specialized dictionaries. Specialized dictionaries include words in specialist fields, rather than a complete range of words in the language. Lexical items that describe concepts in specific fields are usually called terms instead of words, although there is no consensus whether lexicology and terminology are two different fields of study. In theory, general dictionaries are supposed[citation needed] to be semasiological, mapping word to definition, while specialized dictionaries are supposed to be onomasiological, first identifying concepts and then establishing the terms used to designate them. In practice, the two approaches are used for both types. There are other types of dictionaries that do not fit neatly into the above distinction, for instance bilingual (translation) dictionaries, dictionaries of synonyms (thesauri), and rhyming dictionaries. The word dictionary (unqualified) is usually understood to refer to a general purpose monolingual dictionary.

There is also a contrast between prescriptive or descriptive dictionaries; the former reflect what is seen as correct use of the language while the latter reflect recorded actual use. Stylistic indications (e.g. "informal" or "vulgar") in many modern dictionaries are also considered by some to be less than objectively descriptive.

The first recorded dictionaries date back to Sumerian times around 2300 BCE, in the form of bilingual dictionaries, and the oldest surviving monolingual dictionaries are Chinese dictionaries c. 3rd century BCE. The first purely English alphabetical dictionary was A Table Alphabeticall, written in 1604, and monolingual dictionaries in other languages also began appearing in Europe at around this time. The systematic study of dictionaries as objects of scientific interest arose as a 20th-century enterprise, called lexicography, and largely initiated by Ladislav Zgusta. The birth of the new discipline was not without controversy, with the practical dictionary-makers being sometimes accused by others of having an "astonishing" lack of method and critical-self reflection.