Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - piece

~1 n 1 »SEPARATE PART« a part of something that has been separated, broken, or cut from the rest of it  (She cut the cake into pieces.) + of  (How many pieces of toast would you like? | pieces of broken glass) in ~s (=broken into many pieces)  (The vase had slipped and lay in pieces on the floor.) 2 »OBJECT« a single thing of a particular type, often one that is part of a set of things  (Each piece of clothing had her name written in it. | Can I have another piece of paper? | a beautifully made piece of furniture) 24-~/60-~ etc (=with 24, 60 etc pieces in the set)  (an 80-piece orchestra) 3 »CONNECTED PART« one of several different parts that must be joined together to make something  (Some of the jigsaw pieces are missing.) in ~s (=separated into pieces)  (The shelves are sold in pieces that you have to assemble.) take sth to ~s (=separate it into pieces)  (We'll have to take the whole engine to pieces to fix it.) come to ~s (=be designed to be separated into pieces)  (The table comes to pieces so it's easy to deliver.) 4 piece of advice/information/gossip etc some advice, information etc  (Let me give you a piece of advice - sell the car. | a juicy piece of gossip) 5 piece of luck/stupidity/wilfulness etc something lucky, stupid etc  (Finding that store sure was a piece of luck.) 6 »LAND« an area of land  (The factory had been built on a piece of waste ground.) 7 fall to pieces to become very old and damaged  (All my clothes are falling to pieces.) 8 go to pieces to be so upset or nervous that you cannot think or behave normally  (We're looking for someone who won't go to pieces in a crisis.) 9 smash/rip/tear sth to pieces to damage something very severely  (The city had been shot to pieces in the air strike. | In a rage, I tore the letter to pieces.) 10 pull/rip/tear sb to pieces to criticize someone or their ideas very severely  (After she had finished speaking, Hayes tore her to pieces.) 11 (all) in one piece not damaged or injured  (Luckily the parcel arrived all in one piece. | The car was a wreck, but we got out in one piece.) 12 give sb a piece of your mind informal to tell someone that you are very angry with them 13 be a piece of cake informal to be very easy to do  (Learning to drive was a piece of cake for me.) 14 a piece of the action informal a share of the profits from a business activity, especially an illegal one 15 be (all) of a piece a) to be the same as something else  (The testimony was all of a piece with Mandeville's version of events.) b) to be the same in all parts  (The style of the book is all of a piece, both in illustrations and text.) 16 »MONEY« a) a coin of a particular value  (ten pence/fifty-cent etc piece)  (Does anyone have change for a 50 pence piece?) b) old use a coin  (30 pieces of silver) 17 »ART/MUSIC ETC« something that has been produced by an artist, musician, or writer  (The 1812 Overture is one of Tchaikovsky's finest pieces.) 18 »IN A NEWSPAPER« a short written article (2) in a newspaper or magazine  (Did you see that piece in the Observer about censorship?) 19 »IN GAMES« a small object or figure used in playing games such as chess 20 »GUN« AmE slang a small gun 21 be a piece of shit/crap spoken a rude way of saying that something is of very low quality  (Why did you buy that car? It's a piece of crap!) 22 piece of ass AmE an offensive expression meaning a woman, used by men when they are talking about sex 23 a piece AmE old-fashioned a short distance away  (The store is down the road a piece.)  (- see also museum piece, party piece, set piece, a nasty piece of work (nasty6), pick up the pieces (pick1), say your piece (say1 (2)), the villain of the piece (villain (3))) ~2 v  ( @piece together piece sth together phr v 1 to use all the facts or information you have about a situation in order to understand it  (Police are still trying to piece together his movements before the murder.) 2 to put all the separate parts of an object into the correct order or position  (He was slowly piecing together torn fragments of a letter.) @ )