n. [ F. pie, L. pica; cf. picus woodpecker, pingere to paint; the bird being perhaps named from its colors. Cf. Pi, Paint, Speight. ] 1. (Zool.) (a) A magpie. (b) Any other species of the genus Pica, and of several allied genera. [ Written also pye. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (R. C. Ch.) The service book. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Pritn.) Type confusedly mixed. See Pi. [ 1913 Webster ]

By cock and pie, an adjuration equivalent to “by God and the service book.” Shak. --
Tree pie (Zool.), any Asiatic bird of the genus Dendrocitta, allied to the magpie. --
Wood pie. (Zool.) See French pie, under French. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. pie, pye; cf. Ir. & Gael. pighe pie, also Gael. pige an earthen jar or pot. Cf. Piggin. ] 1. An article of food consisting of paste baked with something in it or under it; as, chicken pie; venison pie; mince pie; apple pie; pumpkin pie. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. See Camp, n., 5. [ Prov. Eng. ] Halliwell. [ 1913 Webster ]

Pie crust, the paste of a pie. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. See Pi. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pie the party-colored bird + bald. ] 1. Having spots and patches of black and white, or other colors; mottled; pied. “A piebald steed of Thracian strain.” Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fig.: Mixed. “Piebald languages.” Hudibras. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Pieced p. pr. & vb. n. Piecing ] 1. To make, enlarge, or repair, by the addition of a piece or pieces; to patch; as, to piece a garment; -- often with out. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To unite; to join; to combine. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

His adversaries . . . pieced themselves together in a joint opposition against him. Fuller. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. pece, F. pièce, LL. pecia, petia, petium, probably of Celtic origin; cf. W. peth a thing, a part, portion, a little, Armor. pez, Gael. & Ir. cuid part, share. Cf. Petty. ] 1. A fragment or part of anything separated from the whole, in any manner, as by cutting, splitting, breaking, or tearing; a part; a portion; as, a piece of sugar; to break in pieces. [ 1913 Webster ]

Bring it out piece by piece. Ezek. xxiv. 6. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A definite portion or quantity, as of goods or work; as, a piece of broadcloth; a piece of wall paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Any one thing conceived of as apart from other things of the same kind; an individual article; a distinct single effort of a series; a definite performance; especially: (a) A literary or artistic composition; as, a piece of poetry, music, or statuary. (b) A musket, gun, or cannon; as, a battery of six pieces; a following piece. (c) A coin; as, a sixpenny piece; -- formerly applied specifically to an English gold coin worth 22 shillings. (d) A fact; an item; as, a piece of news; a piece of knowledge. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An individual; -- applied to a person as being of a certain nature or quality; often, but not always, used slightingly or in contempt. “If I had not been a piece of a logician before I came to him.” Sir P. Sidney. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thy mother was a piece of virtue. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

His own spirit is as unsettled a piece as there is in all the world. Coleridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Chess) One of the superior men, distinguished from a pawn. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A castle; a fortified building. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

Of a piece, of the same sort, as if taken from the same whole; like; -- sometimes followed by with. Dryden. --
Piece of eight, the Spanish piaster, formerly divided into eight reals. --
To give a piece of one's mind to, to speak plainly, bluntly, or severely to (another). Thackeray. --
Piece broker, one who buys shreds and remnants of cloth to sell again. --
Piece goods, goods usually sold by pieces or fixed portions, as shirtings, calicoes, sheetings, and the like. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To unite by a coalescence of parts; to fit together; to join. “It pieced better.” Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not made of pieces; whole; entire. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. In pieces; piecemeal. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. [ OE. pecemele; pece a piece + AS. m&unr_;lum, dat. pl. of m&unr_;l part. See Meal a portion. ] 1. In pieces; in parts or fragments. “On which it piecemeal brake.” Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

The beasts will tear thee piecemeal. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Piece by piece; by little and little in succession. [ 1913 Webster ]

Piecemeal they win, this acre first, than that. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]