Noun

(en noun)

A part of a larger whole, usually in such a form that it is able to be separated from other parts.

A single item belonging to a class of similar items: as, for example, a piece of machinery, a piece of software.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-20, volume=408, issue=8845, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Welcome to the plastisphere , passage=[The researchers] noticed many of their pieces of [plastic marine] debris sported surface pits around two microns across. Such pits are about the size of a bacterial cell. Closer examination showed that some of these pits did, indeed, contain bacteria, […].}}

(chess) One of the figures used in playing chess, specifically a higher-value figure as distinguished from a pawn; by extension, a similar counter etc. in other games.

* 1959 , (Hans Kmoch), Pawn Power in Chess , I:

Pawns, unlike pieces , move only in one direction: forward.

A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.

a sixpenny piece

An artistic creation, such as a painting, sculpture, musical composition, literary work, etc.

An artillery gun.

(US, Canada, colloquial) (short for hairpiece); a toupee or wig, usually when worn by a man.

A slice or other quantity of bread, eaten on its own; a sandwich or light snack.

* 2008 , (James Kelman), Kieron Smith, Boy , Penguin 2009, p. 46:

My grannie came and gived them all a piece and jam and cups of water then I was to bring them back out to the street and play a game.

(US, colloquial) A gun.

(US, colloquial, vulgar) A sexual encounter; from piece of ass or piece of tail

(US, colloquial, mildly, vulgar) (short for "piece of crap") a shoddy or worthless object, usually applied to consumer products like vehicles or appliances.

(US, slang) A cannabis pipe.

(baseball) Used to describe a pitch that has been hit but not well, usually either being caught by the opposing team or going foul. Usually used in the past tense with got, and never used in the plural.

(dated, sometimes, derogatory) An individual; a person.

* Sir Philip Sidney

If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him.

* Shakespeare

Thy mother was a piece of virtue.

* Coleridge

His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.

(obsolete) A castle; a fortified building.

(Spenser)

(US) A pacifier.

Noun

(en noun)

The work involved in performing an activity; exertion.

* , chapter=23

, title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.}}

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=June 22, author=Press Association, work=The Guardian

, title= Manchester United offer Park Ji-sung a new two-year contract , passage=The 30-year-old South Korean, who joined United in 2005, retired from international duty after last season's Asian Cup in an effort to prolong his club}}

* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=(Henry Petroski)

, title= Geothermal Energy , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.}}

An endeavour.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-03, author=William E. Carter, Merri Sue Carter

, volume=100, issue=2, page=87, magazine=(American Scientist) , title= The British Longitude Act Reconsidered , passage=But was it responsible governance to pass the Longitude Act without other efforts to protect British seamen? Or might it have been subterfuge—a disingenuous attempt to shift attention away from the realities of their life at sea.}}

A force acting on a body in the direction of its motion.

(Rankine)