Piece vs Measure - What's the difference?

Piece is a related term of measure.

As nouns the difference between piece and measure

is that piece is room (in a house, etc) while measure is the quantity, size, weight, distance or capacity of a substance compared to a designated standard.

As a verb measure is

to ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.

piece

English

Alternative forms

* peece (obsolete)

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.

Synonyms

* See also * See also

Usage notes

When used as a baseball term, the term is idiomatic in that the baseball is almost never broken into pieces. It is rare in modern baseball for the cover of a baseball to even partially tear loose. In professional baseball, several new, not previously played baseballs are used in each game. It could be argued that the phrase was never meant (not even metaphorically) to refer to breaking the ball into pieces, and that "get a piece of the ball" means the bat contacts only a small area of the ball - in other words, that the ball is hit off-center. In that case "get" would mean "succeed in hitting", not "obtain".

Derived terms

* bits and pieces * piecemeal * piecen * piece of cake * piece of eight * piece of the action

Verb

(piec)

(transitive, usually, with together) To assemble (something real or figurative).

These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.

* Fuller

His adversaries pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.

To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out .

to piece a garment

(Shakespeare)

(slang) To produce a work of graffiti more complex than a tag.

* 2009 , Gregory J. Snyder, Graffiti Lives: Beyond the Tag in New York's Urban Underground (page 40)

It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece ; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.

* 2009 , Scape Martinez, GRAFF: The Art & Technique of Graffiti (page 124)

It is often used to collect other writer's tags, and future plans for bombing and piecing .

Derived terms

* piece together * repiece * unpiece 1000 English basic words ----

measure

English

(wikipedia measure)

Noun

(en noun)

The quantity, size, weight, distance or capacity of a substance compared to a designated standard.

An (unspecified) quantity or capacity.

* 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban'' (in ''The Guardian , 6 September 2013)[http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/sep/06/england-moldova-world-cup-qualifier-matchreport]

It ended up being a bittersweet night for England, full of goals to send the crowd home happy, buoyed by the news that Montenegro and Poland had drawn elsewhere in Group H but also with a measure of regret about what happened to Danny Welbeck and what it means for Roy Hodgson's team going into a much more difficult assignment against Ukraine.

The precise designated distance between two objects or points.

The dimensions or capacity of anything, reckoned according to some standard; size or extent, determined and stated.

The tailor took my measure for a coat.

* Bible, Job xi. 9

The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.

The act of measuring.

(Shakespeare)

A musical designation consisting of all notes and or rests delineated by two vertical bars; an equal and regular division of the whole of a composition.

* '>citation

(music) The group or grouping of beats, caused by the regular recurrence of accented beats.

(dancing) A regulated movement, especially in a slow and stately dance, corresponding to the time in which the accompanying music is performed.

(poetry) The manner of ordering and combining the quantities, or long and short syllables; meter; rhythm; hence, a metrical foot.

a poem in iambic measure

A rule, ruler or measuring stick.

A tactic, strategy or piece of legislation.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Obama goes troll-hunting , passage=The solitary, lumbering trolls of Scandinavian mythology would sometimes be turned to stone by exposure to sunlight. Barack Obama is hoping that several measures announced on June 4th will have a similarly paralysing effect on their modern incarnation, the patent troll.}}

(mathematics) A function that assigns a non-negative number to a given set following the mathematical nature that is common among length, volume, probability and the like.

(arithmetic, dated) A number which is contained in a given number a number of times without a remainder; a divisor.

the greatest common measure of two or more numbers

(geology) A bed or stratum.

coal measures'''; lead '''measures

An indicator; something used to assess some property.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=October 23, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= Man Utd 1-6 Man City , passage=City were also the victors on that occasion 56 years ago, winning 5-0, but this visit was portrayed as a measure of their progress against the 19-time champions.}}

Synonyms

* (musical designation) bar * (precise designated distance) metric

Hyponyms

* (mathematics) positive measure, signed measure, complex measure, Borel measure, , complete measure, Lebesgue measure

Verb

(measur)

To ascertain the quantity of a unit of material via calculated comparison with respect to a standard.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=11, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= Towards the end of poverty , passage=But poverty’s scourge is fiercest below $1.25 (the average of the 15 poorest countries’ own poverty lines, measured in 2005 dollars and adjusted for differences in purchasing power): people below that level live lives that are poor, nasty, brutish and short.}}

To estimate the unit size of something.

To judge, value, or appraise.

* (John Milton)

Great are thy works, Jehovah, infinite / Thy power! what thought can measure thee?

To obtain or set apart; to mark in even increments.

(rare) To traverse, cross, pass along; to travel over.

* (William Shakespeare)

A true devoted pilgrim is not weary / To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps.

To adjust by a rule or standard.

* Jeremy Taylor

To secure a contented spirit, measure your desires by your fortunes, not your fortunes by your desires.

To allot or distribute by measure; to set off or apart by measure; often with out'' or ''off .

* Bible, Matthew vii. 2

With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

* Addison

That portion of eternity which is called time, measured out by the sun.

Derived terms

* measurement * measure stick * measure theory

External links

* * * 1000 English basic words