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What is "to give a piece of one's mind to"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
To give a piece of one's mind to

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.