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What is "piece goods"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
Piece goods

Piece \Piece\, n. [OE. pece, F. pi[`e]ce, 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.

    Bring it out piece by piece.
    --Ezek. xxiv. 6.

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

  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:

    1. A literary or artistic composition; as, a piece of poetry, music, or statuary.

    2. A musket, gun, or cannon; as, a battery of six pieces; a following piece.

    3. A coin; as, a sixpenny piece; -- formerly applied specifically to an English gold coin worth 22 shillings.

    4. A fact; an item; as, a piece of news; a piece of knowledge.

  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.

    Thy mother was a piece of virtue.
    --Shak.

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

  5. (Chess) One of the superior men, distinguished from a pawn.

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

    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.

Wiktionary
piece goods

n. Goods usually sold by pieces or fixed portions, such as shirtings, calicos, sheetings, etc.

WordNet
piece goods

n. merchandise in the form of fabrics sold by the yard [syn: yard goods]

Usage examples of "piece goods".

My father says the merchants of the Staple can preen themselves as much as they please, but finished goods, piece goods, is the coming trade.

Granny Hazelbide asked, as if it had been maybe something about piece goods.

Other wives contented themselves with the piece goods Flatulina had overlooked.