Piculet Pic"u·let noun [ Dim. of Picus .] (Zoology) Any species of very small woodpeckers of the genus Picumnus and allied genera. Their tail feathers are not stiff and sharp at the tips, as in ordinary woodpeckers.

Picus Pi"cus noun ; plural Pici . [ Latin , a woodpecker.] (Zoology) A genus of woodpeckers, including some of the common American and European species.

Piddle Pid"dle intransitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Piddled ; present participle & verbal noun Piddling .] [ Confer dial. Swedish pittla to keep picking at, Swedish peta to pick.] 1. To deal in trifles; to concern one's self with trivial matters rather than with those that are important. Ascham. 2. To be squeamishly nice about one's food. Swift. 3. To urinate; -- child's word.

Piddler Pid"dler noun One who piddles.

Piddling Pid"dling adjective Trifling; trivial; frivolous; paltry; -- applied to persons and things.

The ignoble hucksterage of piddling tithes.

Milton.

Piddock Pid"dock noun [ Etymol. uncertain.] (Zoology) Any species of Pholas; a pholad. See Pholas .

Pie Pie noun [ Middle English pie , pye ; confer Ir. & Gael. pighe pie, also Gael. pige an earthen jar or pot. Confer 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 . 2. See Camp , noun , 5. [ Prov. Eng.] Halliwell. Pie crust , the paste of a pie.

Pie Pie noun [ French pie , Latin pica ; confer picus woodpecker, pingere to paint; the bird being perhaps named from its colors. Confer Pi , Paint , Speight .] 1. (Zoology) (a) A magpie. (b) Any other species of the genus Pica , and of several allied genera. [ Written also pye .] 2. (R. C. Ch.) The service book. 3. (Pritn.) Type confusedly mixed. See Pi . By cock and pie , an adjuration equivalent to "by God and the service book." Shak. -- Tree pie (Zoology) , any Asiatic bird of the genus Dendrocitta , allied to the magpie. -- Wood pie . (Zoology) See French pie , under French .

Pie Pie transitive verb See Pi .

Piebald Pie"bald` adjective [ 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. 2. Fig.: Mixed. " Piebald languages." Hudibras.

Piece Piece noun [ Middle English pece , French pièce , Late Latin pecia , petia , petium , probably of Celtic origin; confer W. peth a thing, a part, portion, a little, Armor. pez , Gael. & Ir. cuid part, share. Confer 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: (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. 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. [ Obsolete] 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.

Piece Piece transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pieced ; present participle & verbal noun 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. 2. To unite; to join; to combine. Fuller.

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

Fuller.

Piece Piece intransitive verb To unite by a coalescence of parts; to fit together; to join. "It pieced better." Bacon.

Pieceless Piece"less adjective Not made of pieces; whole; entire.

Piecely Piece"ly adverb In pieces; piecemeal. [ Obsolete]

Piecemeal Piece"meal` adverb [ Middle English pecemele ; pece a piece + Anglo-Saxon m...lum , dat. plural of m...l part. See Meal a portion.] 1. In pieces; in parts or fragments. "On which it piecemeal brake." Chapman.

The beasts will tear thee piecemeal .

Tennyson. 2. Piece by piece; by little and little in succession.

Piecemeal they win, this acre first, than that.

Pope.

Piecemeal Piece"meal` adjective Made up of parts or pieces; single; separate. "These piecemeal guilts." Gov. of Tongue.

Piecemeal Piece"meal` noun A fragment; a scrap. R. Vaughan.

Piecemealed Piece"mealed` adjective Divided into pieces.

Piecener Piece"ner noun 1. One who supplies rolls of wool to the slubbing machine in woolen mills. 2. Same as Piecer , 2.

Piecer Pie"cer noun 1. One who pieces; a patcher. 2. A child employed in spinning mill to tie together broken threads.

Piecework Piece"work` noun Work done by the piece or job; work paid for at a rate based on the amount of work done, rather than on the time employed.

The reaping was piecework , at so much per acre.

R. Jefferies.

Pied Pied imperfect & past participle of Pi , or Pie , v.

Pied Pied adjective [ From Pie the party- colored bird.] Variegated with spots of different colors; party- colored; spotted; piebald. " Pied coats." Burton. "Meadows trim with daisies pied ." Milton. Pied antelope (Zoology) , the bontebok. -- Pied-billed grebe (Zoology) , the dabchick. -- Pied blackbird (Zoology) , any Asiatic thrush of the genus Turdulus . -- Pied finch (Zoology) (a) The chaffinch. (b) The snow bunting . [ Prov. Eng.] -- Pied flycatcher (Zoology) , a common European flycatcher ( Ficedula atricapilla ). The male is black and white.

Piedmont Pied"mont adjective [ French pied foot + mont mountain.] (Geol.) Noting the region of foothills near the base of a mountain chain.

Piedmontite Pied"mont·ite noun (Min.) A manganesian kind of epidote, from Piedmont . See Epidote .

Piedness Pied"ness noun The state of being pied. Shak.

Piédouche Pié`douche" noun [ French, from Italian peduccio console, corbel.] A pedestal of small size, used to support small objects, as busts, vases, and the like.

Piedstall Pied"stall noun See Pedestal . [ Obsolete]

Pieman Pie"man noun ; plural Piemen A man who makes or sells pies.

Piend Piend noun [ Confer Danish pind a peg.] See Peen .

Pieno Pi·e"no adjective [ Italian , from Latin plenus full.] (Mus.) Full; having all the instruments.

Pieplant Pie"plant` noun (Botany) A plant ( Rheum Rhaponticum ) the leafstalks of which are acid, and are used in making pies; the garden rhubarb.

Piepoudre, Piepowder Pie"pou`dre, Pie"pow`der noun [ Lit., dustyfoot, i. e., dusty-footed dealers, from French pied foot + poudreux dusty.] (O. Eng. Law) An ancient court of record in England, formerly incident to every fair and market, of which the steward of him who owned or had the toll was the judge. Blackstone.

Pier Pier noun [ Middle English pere , Old French piere a stone, French pierre , from Latin petra , Greek .... Confer Petrify .] 1. (Architecture) (a) Any detached mass of masonry, whether insulated or supporting one side of an arch or lintel, as of a bridge; the piece of wall between two openings. (b) Any additional or auxiliary mass of masonry used to stiffen a wall. See Buttress . 2. A projecting wharf or landing place. Abutment pier , the pier of a bridge next the shore; a pier which by its strength and stability resists the thrust of an arch. -- Pier glass , a mirror, of high and narrow shape, to be put up between windows. -- Pier table , a table made to stand between windows.

Pierage Pier"age noun Same as Wharfage . Smart.

Pierce Pierce transitive verb [ imperfect & past participle Pierced ; present participle & verbal noun Piercing .] [ Middle English percen , French percer , Old French percier , perchier , parchier ; perhaps from (assumed) Late Latin pertusiare for pertusare , from Latin pertundere , pertusum , to beat, push, bore through; per through + tundere to beat: confer Old French pertuisier to pierce, French pertuis a hole. Confer Contuse , Parch , Pertuse .] 1. To thrust into, penetrate, or transfix, with a pointed instrument. "I pierce . . . her tender side." Dryden. 2. To penetrate; to enter; to force a way into or through; to pass into or through; as, to pierce the enemy's line; a shot pierced the ship. 3. Fig.: To penetrate; to affect deeply; as, to pierce a mystery. " Pierced with grief." Pope.

Can no prayers pierce thee?

Shak.

Pierce Pierce intransitive verb To enter; to penetrate; to make a way into or through something, as a pointed instrument does; -- used literally and figuratively.

And pierced to the skin, but bit no more.

Spenser.

She would not pierce further into his meaning.

Sir P. Sidney.

Pierceable Pierce"a·ble adjective That may be pierced.

Pierced Pierced adjective Penetrated; entered; perforated.

Piercel Pier"cel noun [ Confer French perce .] A kind of gimlet for making vents in casks; -- called also piercer .

Piercer Pier"cer noun 1. One who, or that which, pierces or perforates ; specifically: (a) An instrument used in forming eyelets; a stiletto. (b) A piercel. 2. (Zoology) (a) The ovipositor, or sting, of an insect. (b) An insect provided with an ovipositor.

Piercing Pier"cing adjective Forcibly entering, or adapted to enter, at or by a point; perforating; penetrating; keen; -- used also figuratively; as, a piercing instrument, or thrust. " Piercing eloquence." Shak. -- Pier"cing*ly , adverb -- Pier"cing*ness , noun

Pierian Pi·e"ri·an adjective [ Latin Pierius , from Mount Pierus , in Thessaly, sacred to the Muses.] Of or pertaining to Pierides or Muses.

Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

Pope.

Pierid Pi"er·id noun [ See Peirides .] (Zoology) Any butterfly of the genus Pieris and related genera. See Cabbage butterfly , under Cabbage .

Pierides Pi·er"i·des noun plural [ Latin , from Greek .... See Pierian .] (Class. Myth.) The Muses.

Pierre-perdu Pierre`-per`du" noun [ French pierre perdue lost stone.] Blocks of stone or concrete heaped loosely in the water to make a foundation (as for a sea wall), a mole, etc.

Piet Pi"et (pī"ĕt) noun [ Dim. of Pie a magpie: confer French piette a smew.] (Zoology) (a) The dipper, or water ouzel. [ Scot.] (b) The magpie. [ Prov.Eng.] Jay piet (Zoology) , the European jay. [ Prov.Eng.] -- Sea piet (Zoology) , the oyster catcher. [ Prov.Eng.]

Pietà Pi·e·tà" (pe*a*tä") noun [ Italian ] (Fine Arts) A representation of the dead Christ, attended by the Virgin Mary or by holy women and angels. Mollett.

Pietism Pi"e·tism (pī"e*tĭz'm) noun [ Confer German pietismus , French piétisme .] 1. The principle or practice of the Pietists. 2. Strict devotion; also, affectation of devotion.

The Schöne Seele , that ideal of gentle pietism , in "Wilhelm Meister."

W. Pater.