Piece vs Trifle - What's the difference?
piece | trifle |
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= (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:
A coin, especially one valued at less than the principal unit of currency.
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:
(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
* Shakespeare
* Coleridge
(obsolete) A castle; a fortified building.
(US) A pacifier.
(transitive, usually, with together) To assemble (something real or figurative).
* Fuller
To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; often with out .
(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)
* 2009 , Scape Martinez, GRAFF: The Art & Technique of Graffiti (page 124)
An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.
An insignificant amount.
* {{quote-book, year=1928, author=Lawrence R. Bourne
, title=Well Tackled!
, chapter=17 Anything that is of little importance or worth.
* Shakespeare
* Drayton
A particular kind of pewter.
(uncountable) Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.
To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.
To act, speak, or otherwise behave with jest.
To inconsequentially toy with something.
To squander or waste.
As nouns the difference between piece and trifle
is that piece is room (in a house, etc) while trifle is an english dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.As a verb trifle is
to deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.piece
English
Alternative forms
* peece (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)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, […].}}
- Pawns, unlike pieces , move only in one direction: forward.
- a sixpenny piece
- 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.
- If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him.
- Thy mother was a piece of virtue.
- His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world.
- (Spenser)
Synonyms
* See also * See alsoUsage 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 actionSee also
*See also
* chunk * bitVerb
(piec)- These clues allowed us to piece together the solution to the mystery.
- His adversaries pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him.
- to piece a garment
- (Shakespeare)
- It is incorrect to say that toys tag and masters piece ; toys just do bad tags, bad throw-ups, and bad pieces.
- 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 ----trifle
English
Noun
citation, passage=Commander Birch was a trifle uneasy when he found there was more than a popple on the sea; it was, in fact, distinctly choppy. Strictly speaking, he ought to have been following up the picket–boat, but he was satisfied that the circumstances were sufficiently urgent for him to take risks.}}
- Trifles light as air / Are to the jealous confirmation strong / As proofs of holy writ.
- with such poor trifles playing