Green’s Dictionary of Slang

deflowered.

1997–2000

College Sl. Research Project (Cal. State Poly. Uni., Pomona) 🌐 Pieced (adj.) No longa a virgin.

(US und.) one’s personal weapon.

2021

T. Pluck Boy from County Hell : ‘This was Andre’s carry piece’ [...] He broke open the table revolver.

(US) a gunman, an armed bodyguard.

1974

V.E. Smith Jones Men 23: You figure at least two piece men beside the driver.

(US) a despicable person.

1981

J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 14: Yeah, that piece of cancer. I hate him.

(US campus) a coward, a weakling.

1978		W. Diehl Sharky’s Machine 110: I got to wonder how in hell he ever got tied in with that mother-humping piece of camelshit.
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.

an admirable person.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues.

(US) a despicable person.

1961		R. Serling ‘The Big, Tall Wish’ in More Stories from the Twilight Zone 82: You piece of garbage, you, Thomas!
1980		D. Burns Feeling Good 262: You’re a no-good piece of rot.

a person, inference usu. derog. or as a ‘character’.

1794		W. Godwin Caleb Williams (1966) 35: It was impossible that people could seriously feel any liking for such a ridiculous piece of goods.
1932		Aberdeen Jrnl 18 Feb. 2/6: It is the study of a noted defence lawyer, his wife [...] and a nasty piece of goods [...] a little actress, utterly devoid of morals.
1940		Hawick News 22 Feb. 7/5: The general opinion is that he’s a nasty piece of goods.
1947		S. Lewis Kingsblood Royal (2001) 158: The liveliest topic tonight was the Reverend Dr. Jat Snood, who was probably the nastiest piece of goods in Grand Republic.
1953		Stage (London) 1 Jan. 12/3: Joy Robins depicts a nasty piece of goods as Discordia the witch.
2002		R.G. Barrett Mystery Bay Blues 57: He sounds like a nasty piece of goods this bloke.

a talkative person.

1939

J. Weidman What’s In It For Me? 23: I had enough to handle a piece of jab like her.

1. (also hunk of meat, piece of pie-meat) anyone regarded as no more than a physical object, esp. in a sexual context.

c.1617		Fletcher Chances IV iii: What are you? Bawd to this Piece of Pye-meat.
1889		C. Deveureux Venus in India I 91: As I keep a pretty little piece of brown meat, and have my regular greens twice a week, I might not be able to do as good a turn now, as I did then, but I had that woman eight solid times, sir.
1935		Z.N. Hurston Mules and Men (1995) 145: ‘Dat li’l narrer contracted piece uh meatskin gointer make me stomp her right now!’ Big Sweet exploded.
1946		H.A. Smith Rhubarb 41: ‘What a hunk!’ breathed Myra. ‘What a hunka meat!’.
1969		M. Puzo Godfather 157: Johnny hated the Hollywood ‘piece of meat’ approach. He never slept with any girl unless there was something about her he really liked.
1978		L. Kramer Faggots 81: Christopher Street, over-run this late afternoon with thousands, bodies on the prowl, pieces of meat.
1984		Eble Campus Sl. Mar. 4: hunk of meat – good-looking, well-built male.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 342: He told her what Keith and his kind were really like, how they thought of women as chunks of meat.
1999		Observer Screen 25 July 7: Just like a model, an actress auditioning, or a piece of meat.

2. (US gay) a penis.

c.1925		R. McAlmon Miss Knight (1963) 59: He would sit with his right hand in the left pocket of his policeman when they were in queer cafés, and would babble, ‘My god, Mary, I’ve got my hand on a real piece of meat at last, oh Mary’.
1934		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana II 14: You have a very beautiful piece of meat and I should like very much to taste of it.
1985		K. Vacha Quiet Fire 173: He did have a lovely piece of meat.
2005		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper 4 139: Put it away [...] I’ve seen better bits of meat hanging off the butcher’s pencil.

1. a term of contempt.

1922		‘J.H. Ross’ Mint (1955) 121: If that long spunking piece of piss pokes his head in here after us, I’ll knock seven different sorts of shit out of him.
2020		G. Disher Consolation 37: ‘The cops are here’ [...] ‘You piece of piss’.

2. see also sl. compounds referring to objects below.

(Aus.) a term of contempt.

1986

T. Winton That Eye, The Sky 39: I hate yer big flubbery guts and yer pig face and yer crybaby old man [...] and yer scrawney plucked-chook-piece-of-poop old lady. I hate yez! [Ibid.] 71: ‘You’re a piece of poop, Mr Cherry!’ I yell.

see piece of garbage

see separate entries.

(US) a beating, a thrashing, a punishment.

1971		R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 183: ‘I gotta get me a little piece of his butt [...] Welfare pimp. I should kill me every one I see’.
1972		O. Hawkins Ghetto Sketches 27: Let them niggers gon’ ’n fight. They been tryin’ t’ get a piece of each other’s ass since last week!

a contemptible person.

1633

S. Marmion A Fine Companion II iii: aemi.: O master Carelesse here has beene your Vncle A woing to me. car.: What that peece of stockfish.

a worthless person.

1771

H. Mackenzie Man of Feeling 33: I was reckoned a piece of a wag, and your wags, I take it, are seldom rich.

1. a person; usu. qualified by an adj., e.g. nasty piece of work, an unpleasant person.

1764		K. O’Hara Midas I v: mys.: Rivals forsooth! pan.: What, for a straggling goatherd! mys.: For this fine piece of work.
1787		A. Shirrefs Jamie and Bess II i: Gae from my sight, ye worthless piece of wark!
1903		Ade People You Know 210: He [...] was paying a lot of Attention to a wonderful Piece of Work sitting opposite.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 280: This clothes business simply showed what a foxy piece of work she was.
1914		M. Glass Potash And Perlmutter 158: You’re a fine piece of work, I must say.
1923		‘Bartimeus’ Seaways 110: Nasty Bit of Work. I’d go and bash his head for two pins.
1936		N. Marsh Death in Ecstasy 32: ‘Nasty little bit of work,’ thought Nigel.
1949		L. Glassop Lucky Palmer 42: She’s a nasty piece of work, the old girl.
1953		I. Hamilton Till Human Voices Wake Us 60: Some horrible pieces of work get the job [i.e. of magistrate].
1955		F.B. Vickers Mirage (1958) 165: I bet he’s a nasty piece of work.
1976		R. Daley To Kill a Cop 181: Charles said: ‘You a cool piece of work, man’ Cuomo accepted the compliment.
1982		G.V. Higgins Patriot Game (1985) 35: He’s a piece of work, Peter. A day without him is like steak for breakfast.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 254: Grubb? Cat’s a real piece of work.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 49: The drag queen was the roughest-looking piece of work God ever shovelled guts into.
1996		(con. 1970) G. Moxley Danti-Dan in McGuinness Dazzling Dark (1996) II vi: Jesus, but you’re a bad piece of work.
1999		Guardian Guide 12–18 June 9: She has become a right nasty piece of work.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 181: Never liked that one, I yavunt. Nasty loody piece uv work aye.
2008		J. Lansdale Leather Maiden 57: They’re real pieces of work, those two, but they’ve been good for news.
2010		K. Richards Life 168: Reg was a very nasty piece of work.
2012		J.J. DeCeglie ‘Death Cannot Be Delegated’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] I’d been hired by a bona fide piece of work to kill his slice-of-pie wife.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 17: He was a lean and weathered piece of work.

2. an attractive woman.

1909		Courier (Waterloo, IA) 3 Apr. 8/3: ‘You’re a mighty fine piece of work, you are, an’ I’ve got an awful yearnin’ to [etc]’.
2002		J. Cameron Hell on Hoe Street 40: Plenty of the birds were pieces of work only they never hugged or kissed me.

3. a formidable person.

1991		C. Hiaasen Native Tongue 68: ‘You’re a piece of work,’ he said to Molly McNamara. ‘I gotta admit.’.
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 116: Junior’s a piece of work. Don’t underestimate him.
2005		P. Temple Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] There’s a Ray Piggot that’s a piece of work.
2006		Simon & Burns ‘Alliances’ Wire ser. 4 ep. 5 [TV script] ‘He’s a piece of work.’ ‘Valchek? Comes with the territory’.
2010		K. Richards Life 212: Deborah [Dixon] was a piece of work, a beauty from Texas who’d been on every magazine cover.
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘Skittles said you were a piece of work’.

4. one who is considered odd or eccentric by the speaker.

1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 93: You’re a real piece of work [...] Worrying about the mistress you share will say about any side dishes you care to taste, but not worrying a bit about the feelings of the wife-to-be.
2002		T. Dorsey Triggerfish Twist (2002) 172: His rap sheet goes way back [...] A real piece of work.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 131: Joe sounded like a real piece of work.
2023		F. Bill Back to the Dirt 217: ‘Your mother, she was a real piece of work, leaving you, Wylie, and me at my lowest’.

5. see also sl. compounds referring to objects below.

anything seen as simple, lucky, easily achieved, no bother; cite 2010 refers to a woman.

1937		J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 217: What a slice of cake. I touched lucky if ever I did.
1937		J. Worby Other Half 184: Drive away as fast as you can where the Boys tell you and the job will be a piece of cake.
1943		R. Llewellyn None But the Lonely Heart 34: It would have been a piece of cake to put a brick through them. [Ibid.] 151: It was a lump of cake, all round. It was toffee. [Ibid.] 170: It’s a piece of meat [...] Easy as eating your breakfast. [Ibid.] 245: ‘Lump of duff,’ says Cosh.
1947		N. Streatfeild Grass in Piccadilly 32: Piece of cake he had married Jenny before that happened.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 76: It was an absolute piece of cake.
1960		G.W. Target Teachers (1962) 91: ‘How are you coping with ’em?’ ‘Piece of cake,’ he said.
1972		P. Fordham Inside the Und. 28: Safes that had been guaranteed ‘pieces of cake’ failed to respond.
1987		T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 508: Piece a cake for a guy like me.
1994		G. Disher Crosskill [ebook] ‘[It’s] a piece of cake, something I do all the time’.
1999		N. Cohn Yes We Have No 352: Don’t let anyone fool you that London’s a piece of cake.
2000		Indep. on Sun. Real Life 9 Jan. 5: Exploring the pole is a piece of cake compared to being married.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 24: John’s mother, the bitch, she’s no piece of cake either.
2015		G. Disher Heat [ebook] ‘Piece of cake,’ according to Jack Pepper [...] Stefan Vidovic tried to see how overcoming armed guards and locked doors might be a piece of cake.

(orig. RAF) anything seen as supremely easy.

1949		Partridge DSUE (3rd edn) Add. 1134/2: Piece of piss, a ‘piece of cake’... R.A.F.
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 111: ‘It’s a piece of piss,’ said Abdul. ‘All you do is draw something stupid and it’s gets printed in the Observer Colour Supplement.’.
1985		R.G. Barrett You Wouldn’t Be Dead for Quids (1989) 225: Sounds like a piece of piss if you ask me.
1984		A. Sayle Train to Hell 111: ‘It’s a piece of piss,’ said Abdul. ‘All you do is draw something stupid and it’s gets printed in the Observer Colour Supplement.’.
1986		R.G. Barrett Godson 42: ‘Sounds like a piece of piss [...] What do you want me to do?’.
1986		P. Slabolepszy ‘Boo to the Moon’ in Mooi Street (1994) 118: Army’s a piece a’ piss, man.
1989		S. Armitage ‘All Bee and Skittles’ in Zoom 17: This job, he assured me, / was a piece of piss and we’d sew it up tomorrow / Chaps, I’ve got a vote for Hughie—but it ain’t no monte yet.
1992		A. Duff One Night Out Stealing 41: Yeah, a breeze, a cinch, a piece of piss, an easy-meat bowl over.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] ‘Just got in his way, to give her enough time to mingle in with the crowds and hop into an auld Jo. Piece of piss, it was’.
1998		R.G. Barrett Mud Crab Boogie (2013) [ebook] ‘You ever driven one before? [...] Don’t worry. It’s a piece of piss’.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] ‘I don’t know. I’ve never done anything like — ’ ‘Piece of piss. You’ve had a fuck before, haven’t you?’.
2006		D. Mitchell Black Swan Green 51: The answer’s a piece of piss.
2011		J.J. Connolly Viva La Madness 148: They jiggled open the combination locks — piece-a-piss — popped open the cases and — fuckin result!
2015		I. Welsh Decent Ride 31: Piece ay pish, bud. Ken it well.
2019		A. Killilea Boyo-wulf at https://boyowulf.home.blog 16 June 🌐 They gave God a big thumbs up ’cause the journey was a piece of piss.

an example of good luck; a welcome change in circumstances.

1889–90

Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant.

see iron n. (3c)

(Aus.) constipation.

1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1955		N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 237/1: piece de resistance – constipation.

(US black) any one of the seven days of the week.

1996–2000

(con. 1940s) Deuce Ofay Productions ‘The Jive Bible’ at JiveOn.com 🌐 Cop and blow [...] You slap yo’self a good, long peep at Kenny, boy [...] he gots a fly crutch, a diff’rent zoot suit fo’ every piece o’ seven an’ a rep dat come through de slammer trey hours befo’ he slide in.

1. see senses 7a and 7b above.

2. see also sl. compounds meaning a woman below.

(orig. US) a share in what is going on, usu. monetary, criminal or gambling.

1961		H. Ellison Rockabilly (1963) 138: You’ve got a piece of the action.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 58: I ain’t gonna let Louie use ’im unless I get a piece of the action.
1985		B. Humphries Traveller’s Tool 102: Old grandpa would be arriving at any tick of the clock for his piece of the action.
1994		M. Montague Dread Culture 10: Wah! Business a gwaan pon Benbow Street and me no inna it? Since when money a mek and mi nah get a piece of di action?
2000		Guardian G2 26 Apr. 24: Should we be surprised that the 22-year-old [...] wants a piece of the action?
2004		R.G. Barrett Rosa Marie’s Baby (2013) [ebook] Knowing Eddie, he’d probably start banging on her door wanting a piece of the action.

a cake of pressed tobacco.

a.1889

ballad in Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant II 128/1: I got a clay and a piece of thick / [...] / But crikey didn’t I feel sick.

1. a fuss, a ‘to-do’.

1733		Derby Mercury 8 Feb. 2/1: ‘What Cheer Finch?’ ‘Prety [sic] Cheer indeed,’ says I, ‘You have made a fine piece of Work of it! your boy is dead’.
1805		J. Davis Post Captain (1813) 183: What would my papa and mamma say? There would be such a piece of work!
1843–4		Dickens Martin Chuzzlewit (1995) 61: What are you making all this piece of work for?
1858		G. Thompson Gay Girls of N.Y. 85: Here’s a pretty piece of work!
1864		G.A. Sala Quite Alone I 237: Here was a fine piece of work!
1872		‘Ouida’ Fitz’s Election (1867) 392: How do you expect to get along with your election when it’s such a piece of work to make you shake hands?

2. see work n. (1)

3. see also sl. compounds referring to people above.

1. a woman, not necessarily derog. but invariably from a sexual point of view and usu. dismissive; occas. a man.

1906		Sun. Times (Perth) 11 Nov. n.p.: The Frog likewise threw his fancy piece of cuddle from the sulky.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 17 Jan. 7/4: What has come over George W. and his piece of crochet .
1918		Committee of Fourteen in K. White First Sexual Revolution (1993) 88: Twenty cunts hanging around here. I said last year there was always a chance of picking up a piece of gash in here.
1929		in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) I 413: ‘A dollar gold for a piece of cock, / Pop! goes the weasel!’ [...] She learned it near Pineville, Missouri, before 1910.
1930		J.T. Farrell ‘Clyde’ Short Stories (1937) 151: Git yourself a piece of honey that’s plump and willing and nice.
1933		J.T. Farrell Gas-House McGinty 191: Your hunk of pork ain’t nothin’ to write home about, neither!
1939		H. Miller Tropic of Capricorn (1964) 163: Wasn’t that a nice piece of ass to turn over to a friend?
1947		(con. 1944) J.H. Burns Gallery (1948) 212: Wanna nice signorina? Wanna piecea arse?
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 184: She really was a bewitching piece of cunt. [Ibid.] 256: Too bad, because she certainly was a good piece of hump.
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 104/2: Hunk of quiff, skin, or snatch. See Hunk of hat. [Ibid.] 157/1: Piece of pratt. [...] Piece of snatch. 1. A loose woman.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 37: I guess thats why all these guys get tired of her. Anyway, I never seen a piece of ass yet was worth twenty years in Leavenworth.
1959		A. Anderson ‘Schooldays in North Carolina’ in Lover Man 92: A piece o’ trim [...] would kill that boy deader than John Wilkes Booth.
1961		B. Crump Hang On a Minute, Mate (1963) 159: She’s not the tidiest hunk of work I’ve come across, but the old gal’s got a heart of gold.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 45: She didnt look like no freak. She looked like a real fine piecea ass. [Ibid.] 211: I could use a little nookie. Thats what I need, a good piece of ass.
1969		‘Amos Peeper’ Teen Swap n.p.: ‘I got a date with a lovely piece of kootch’.
1971		T. Thackrey Thief 38: She was a few years older than me, and the hottest piece of butt in those parts.
1977		P. Hamill Flesh and Blood (1978) 243: Thirty million large. We don’t want that fucked up over a piece of gash.
1978		L.K. Truscott IV Dress Gray (1979) 286: The best piece of ass I ever fucked was your sister. [Ibid.] 382: The little woman [...] Finest little chunk-a-fanny this side of the Hudson.
1981		S. Berkoff Decadence in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 15: My super wondrous piece of dolly arse.
1986		C. Hiaasen Tourist Season (1987) 364: I take it you don’t think of yourself as a precious piece of ass.
1992		(con. 1932) Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore I 160: ‘When I was young and in my prime, / I could get a piece of cock any time, / But now I’m old, my balls are cold, / I can’t get a bit to save my soul.’ [...] Sung as above by Mr. R.T., Joplin, Missouri, December 24, 1932. [Ibid.] 402: [From Mr. W.B., Harrison, Arkansas, Apr. 16, 1949] [...] The piece of cock the singer is searching for is the vagina, not penis. ‘Rode into Hockeytown, ’bout four o’clock, / Two bottles beer an’ one piece of cock. – / Molly, pull your pants down quick as you can, / Jump into bed with the hog-eye man’.
1992		R.C. Cruz Straight Outta Compton 68: ‘I thought I was different,’ she said. ‘You are [...] No piece of pussy is the same.’.
1993		T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 93: When you go out with an alpha, they think they’re screwing you; they think the guy is the piece of ass.
2000		Guardian Weekend 8 Jan. 3: And no way would you be in the sack with a prime piece of Gentile ass like me.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 123: They only care about one thing [...] Dipping their wick in a piece of ass.
2014		M. Sheridan ‘Feeling Good’ in ThugLit Jan. [ebook] The piece of ass he was fucking semi-regularly.
2021		S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 32: ‘He probably gets him a piece of ass at the end of the night’.

2. heterosexual sexual intercourse.

c.1930		(ref. to 1868) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 47: I soon saw clear we’d both end up being shooting galleries for the drummers and tinhorns looking for a quick piece of ass.
a.1940		‘Peter Pullin’ Blues’ G. Logsdon Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing (1995) 273: This is my son, and this bastard’s twenty-one, / Annabelle, it’s time he had a piece of ass.
1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 184: You think you can give her a better piece of ass than anybody else?
1959		W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 140: Father decide it is time the boy have his first piece of ass.
1959		‘Count Palmiro Vicarion’ Limericks 62: There was a young girl in Alsace / Who was having her first piece of ass.
1964		Larner & Tefferteller Addict in the Street (1966) 120: Come on, baby, give me a good time – give me a piece of your ass! [Ibid.] 121: Ten dollars for a piece of pussy?
1972		C. Bukowski Erections, Ejaculations etc. 349: You got to ruin your life over a piece of snatch? It ain’t sensible.
1974		D. Goines Swamp Man 65: Anybody else want another piece of ass before we go?
1986		R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 37: Well, thought Tillman, somebody would’ve gotten a little piece of ass.
1998		(con. 1960s) G. Washington Blood Brothers 101: After getting a quick piece of ass from the girls, I dashed back to the general’s quarters.

3. hetero- or homosexual anal intercourse [ass n. (2)/arse n. (1)].

1934		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana II 14: ‘Come on, Nell, how’s about it for a lay tonight?’ ‘Can’t John,’ she answered, ‘Me cunt is in no condition for fucking tonight.’ ‘How about a piece of ass then?’ said he.
1977		P. Hamill Flesh and Blood (1978) 27: Remember, you’re valuable, babe. A piece of fresh white ass.

4. (US Und.) a passive male homosexual [ass n. (2)/arse n. (1)].

1950

Goldin et al. DAUL 157/1: Piece of pratt. [...] Piece of snatch. 1. [...] an epicene. 2. A male pederast; a male oral sodomist.

see beef n.¹

a woman.

1928

C. McKay Home to Harlem 17: She’s a particularly sweet piece a business.

an attractive woman.

1837		A. Greene Glance at N.Y. II v: Come up to-night, and I’ll show you as gallus a piece of calico as any on de floor.
1848		Boston Blade 17 June n.p.: You’d orter seen them cheered this gallus piece of calico.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 54: ‘But his girl is a good looker,’ muttered Doland. ‘I never saw a handsomer piece of calico in my life.’.
1883		G.W. Peck Peck’s Bad Boy and His Pa (1887) 83: I shall never allow my affections to become entwined about another piece of calico.

(US) sexual intercourse with a woman.

1932

V.F. Nelson Prison Days and Nights 29: A man who hasn’t had a drink or a piece of femme for years.

(20C+ use is US black/W.I.) a woman, esp. an attractive woman; cite 1652 ref. to young man.

1562		Jacke Juggler Bi: A great pleasure she hath [...] To gette poore me, now and then by the pate For she is an angrye pece of fleshe.
1593		Tell-Trothes New-Yeares Gift (1876) 30: Ioane, communis omnibus, that could play at bucklers so soone as she was past her cradell. Oh she is a tall peece of flesh, and will stand to her tackling so stoutly.
a.1627		Middleton & Rowley Old Law (1656) IV i: What an old peece of flesh of fifty nine eleven months and upwards, she must needs be flieblown.
		1652 Laughing Mercury 8-16 Sept. 178: An old, very old Woamn [...] having a desire to dress a young piece of flesh, married Turk under twenty.
1654		Mercurius Fumigosus 24 8–15 Nov. 206: If any man or Woman [...] can give me any notice or knowledge of a pittifull ugly immodest impudent, vicious and confident Piece of Shee-Mortallity, whose Christian name begins with E.
1659		Mercurius Democritus 3-10 May 6: In Moor-fields last night, a piece of mortality walking [...] in the old walk of iniquity; meeting a young Dick [and] discovering him a person fit for her occupation [etc.].
1663		Man in the Moon 5 May 14: An Impudent piece of Mortality, coming from Dover [etc.]'.
1677		R. L’Estrange Counterfeit Bridegroom III i: See there, Sweet heart, what a piece of flesh they have brought me, that is the creature would be my supposed Daughter.
1681		Whipping Tom – Brought to Light 2: Scouting about Whetstones Park, [he] met with an old piece of Mortality.
1728		T. Walker The Quaker’s Opera I i: Verily thou billest most salaciously, and art a most delightful Piece of Flesh.
1766		Midnight Spy (c.1929) 81: What became of the little Tit I recommended to you [...] was she not a delicate piece of Flesh?
1831		Navy at Home III 52: The landlady, a perfect she-dragon in virtue, ever since she had kept the Dolphin, however loose a piece of flesh she might have been.
1935		L. Hughes Mulatto in Three Negro Plays (1969) II ii: Thirty years ago, you put your hands on me to feel my breasts, and you say, ‘You a pretty little piece of flesh, ain’t you?’.
1956		S. Selvon Lonely Londoners 91: I meeting that piece of skin tonight, you know.
1957		S. Selvon Ways of Sunlight 84: Who should I see but Little One, doing a window-shop with a sharp piece of skin.
1965		S. Selvon Housing Lark 95: Which part you get that piece of skin, Syl?
1993		B. Moore Lex. of Cadet Lang. 266: piece of flesh a woman, especially a woman seen as sexual object.

(N.Z.) an attractive (young) woman.

1915

Truth (Wellington) 22 May 7: A very nice piece of frillery named Ettie May.

a male homosexual.

1988

(con. WWII) J. Robinson Jack and Jamie Go to War 100: Do you think I’m a piece of fruit?

(orig. US black) a woman or girl (in sexual context).

1833		Ely’s Hawk & Buzzard (NY) Sept. 21 n.p.: Jim [...] has a sneeking notion after a snug little piece of furniture in Chapel-street.
1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 212: A real right down, scrumptious-lookin’ piece of furniture.
1843		Satirist & Sporting Chron. (Sydney) 1 Apr. 3/3: That D****, the broker, ought to be careful the next time he gets lushy, what piece of furniture he picks up with — the chance is he may get something he wont easily get rid of.
1864		‘Edmund Kirke’ Down in Tennessee 176: She’s [...] the snuggest piece uv house furniture as uver wus grow’d.
1938		‘Sl. among Nebraska Negroes’ in AS XIII:4 Dec. 317/1: A nice little piece of furniture is a pretty girl.
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad 10: Bedroom furniture Dame, doll, gasser.

see piece of ass

a young woman; a flighty young woman who has ‘abandoned the proprieties’ (Ware).

1786		F. Pilon He Would be a Soldier II i: I think her as plain a piece of goods, as a man could meet between Temple-Bar and Whitechapel.
1809		B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas (1822) I 14: She seemed a pretty piece of goods.
1821		Egan Life in London (1869) xiiv: While a chance remains [...] to have a pretty ‘piece of goods’ by your side, just to show the world what a gay fellow you are.
1841		W.J. Neale Paul Periwinkle 360: Such an old ugly piece of goods as Mrs. Archbishop.
1846		Northants Mercury 16 May 3/5: Susannah Bandy [...] assaulted Sarah Tomkins of the same place, a woman much older than herself. The defendant appeared to be a firy piece of goods.
1850		A.C. Mowatt Fashion I i: What a Jezebel! These women always play the very devil with a man, and yet I don’t believe such a damaged bale of goods as that (looking at Mrs. tiffany) has smothered the heart of little Antony!
1861		Hills & Plains I 34: ‘Seen the new spin?’ said Captain Stapleton [...] ‘Rather think we have,’ was the universal rejoinder. ‘A very superior piece of goods’.
1868		G.J. Whyte-Melville White Rose 27: To use the master-bricklayer’s expression, such a ‘choice piece of goods’.
1874		M. Clarke Term of His Natural Life (1897) 21: ‘She’s a fine piece of goods, eh?’ asked Blunt.
1881		Newcastle Courant 25 Nov. 6/6: ‘Quite a spicy piece of goods,’ though Mr Ezekiel Smith.
1894		‘Price Warung’ Tales of the Early Days 217: They ain’t goin’ ter let a purty piece o’ goods like yer slip through their ’ands.
1900		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Causerie’ Sporting Times 11 Aug. 1/4: She’s as good as gold, but when she sets her mind on anything / She’s a wilful piece of goods.
1907		Lone Hand (Sydney) July 239/1: ‘Gad! [...] An uppish piece of goods for you!’.
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 24 July 4/6: Geoff H. came up [...] to see his piece of goods .
1915		G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 364: He’s stuck on the star turkey-trotter – a pretty little piece of goods.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 64: A wild piece of goods. Her slim legs running up the staircase.
1923		P. MacGill Moleskin Joe 33: He knew [...] that priests married nuns and that one escaped nun was a ‘hot piece of goods’.
1931		O. Strange Law O’ The Lariat 97: Yo’re a pretty piece o’ goods.
1937		A. Christie Murder in the Mews (1954) 41: Pretty heartless piece of goods. Gone off to play golf.
1937		J.M. Cain Serenade (1985) 16: It hadn’t occured to me up to that second that she could be a downright piece of trade goods.
1941		F. Sargeson ‘That Summer’ in Coll. Stories (1965) 151: I’d seen a smart-looking piece of goods drying her face and having a bo-peep out the bathroom window.
1952		J. Cleary Sundowners 120: You’re a well-padded piece of goods.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 8: Norma. She was a nice frilly piece of goods.
1970		B. Aldiss Hand-Reared Boy 42: What a nasty, back-biting, insincere little piece-of-goods Molly Hadfield was.
1978		A. Burgess 1985 (1980) 201: Sorry old boy, nice piece of goods, daughter or not.

see piece of ass

(mid-17C) a prostitute.

1659

Mercurius Democraticus 31 May-7 June 38: An old Fisherman living at the Bankside, meeting an old piece of iniquity which he had often made use of [...] would needs go drink with her at the Three Tuns.

sexual intercourse; thus a sexually available woman.

1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 794/1: ca.1960.
2000–02		Amatory Ink 🌐.

see bit of muslin under bit n.¹

see under mutton n.

a woman.

1846		Bell’s Life in Sydney 14 Mar. 2/5: Mary M’Cann, a natty little piece of property, made her bow for taking ‘her malt above the meal’.
1863		Criminal Life (NY) 19 Dec. n.p.: She is a stale and unwholesome piece of property.

see piece of ass

a young and sexually appealing woman.

1607		Middleton Michaelmas Term II i: Young, beautiful, and plump, a delicate piece of sin.
1620		Rowlands Night Raven 13: I haue married late, a lumpe of sin which is his sister.

see piece of flesh

a woman, seen as a sex object.

1901		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 23 Jan. 3/6: By & by / A little piece of skirt I see.
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 27 Nov. 1/1: An amorous Avon agriculturist mizzled to Melbourne recently with his buxom servant [...] the guilty chunk of skirt belonged to a toiler who was looking for work.
1910		A.H. Adams Galahad Jones in Three Plays for Aus. Stage (1914) 57: I can't waste time on every bit of skirt that falls in love with me [Ibid.] 76: I'm seein' a piece of skirt in that there garden meself.
1913		Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 31 Dec. 3/6: A interesting / Tidy little piece of skirt, / Will Induce a sporting josser / For to go and pop his shirt.
1929		J.C. Snaith Cousin Beryl 316: I’m not a kind of cove who ever takes no from any piece of skirt.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 144: PIECE.– [...] a woman or girl who will listen to reason. Amplified and frequently used in this latter sense, as ‘a piece of tail,’ or ‘a piece of skirt.’.
1933		J. Spenser Limey 43: And now what’re we gonna do about a piece o’ skirt for Limey?
1958		A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 159: Plenty of work and plenty of booze and a piece of skirt every month till I’m ninety.
2021		J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 144: ‘She was a hot piece of skirt’.

see piece of ass

an unknown woman, usu. in a sexual context.

[1888–94		‘Walter’ My Secret Life (1966) IX 1880: Widows, wives or others, who hot arsed only get a bit of strange cock on the sly].
1973		R. Boston Thorn for the Flesh 66: It was the first piece of strange ass he'd had since his wedding. The captain's wife said she was in love with him and was going to divorce her husband.
1983		G.G. Forrest Alcoholism 12: Soon the patient's drinking acquaintances were able to ‘fix him up’ with a ‘piece of strange.’ This pattern eventually entailed staying out all night, involvements with other women, and rather chronic intoxication.

1. a young woman.

1607		Middleton Michaelmas Term III i: (Enter Mother Gruel) sho: How now? What piece of stuff comes here?
1607		Beaumont Woman Hater III iii: Shee’s a piece of dainty stuffe my rogue, smooth, and soft as new Satten.
1665		‘R.M.’ Scarronides 75: I know thee old Toft well enough, A stinking piece of Stigian stuff; In vain thy self doest toss and tumble With mens.
1774		C. Dibdon Waterman in Coll. Farces & Entertainment VI (1788) 103: I hope I shan’t have such a crank and humoursome piece of stuff to deal with as you have here .
1786		Young Coalman’s Courtship 15: Wode I think ye’re a cumstrarie piece o’ stuff, it’s true enough your mither said o’ ye, that ye’re no for a poor man.
c.1790		‘Peter Pindar’ ‘Odes of Condolence’ Works (1794) III 258: But Betty was not a bad piece of stuff.

2. see also sl. compounds referring to objects above.

1. a woman, a girl, not necessarily derog. but invariably from a sexual point of view and usu. dismissive.

1929		E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 122: 12th street was still a live-wire hangout for the prohibition kansanites who came [...] to get their camels, saturdaynite booze, and a piece of tail.
1933		J.T. Farrell Gas-House McGinty 38: Porky talks like a guy who never had a decent hunk of tail in his life.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 682: What these college boys needed was a good piece of tail to educate them.
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 30: You wonder if she’s a good piece of tail. Yes, magnificent.
1959		C. Himes Crazy Kill 137: You guys’ll be out there chasing the hottest piece of tail in Harlem.
1972		G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 119: Him and four buddies want a little dough to get a high-class piece of tail.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 112: Taco wagons are my speciality. Also foxy Chicanas. Everytime I do a repo in Hollenbeck, I stop for a jumbo burrito and a piece of Mexican tail.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 380: tail. A woman considered as a sex object, a piece of tail.
2000		M.E. Dassad ‘Chickenhawk’ at www.cultdeadcow.com 🌐 I knew I’d have to force some food into the piece of tail I had waiting for me back in the hotel room in Times Square.
2002		C. Stella Jimmy Bench-Press 126: Larry’s piece of tail and Jimmy Bench-Press [...] Don’t that make for interesting comversation.
2013		F. Bill Donnybrook [ebook] ‘[T]hey met a piece of tail in here months back’.
2018		T. Pluck ‘Hot Rod Heart’ in Life During Wartime 123: You know, Karen. You are one red hot piece of tail’.

2. an act of sexual intercourse.

c.1915		in P. Smith Letter from My Father (1978) 43: I didn’t get my first ‘piece of tail’ until quite a few years later.
1926		A.C. Inman 28 Feb. diary in Aaron (1985) 296: He’ll put down the paper an’ growl at me, ‘Hassie, let’s have a piece a’ tail.’ Then I get mad. ‘A piece of tail,’ I says to him, ‘An’ is that what you call it an’ how you ask for it?’.
1934		‘J.M. Hall’ Anecdota Americana II 79: I had my first piece of tail today!
1949		H. Miller Sexus (1969) 123: Her husband was away on a trip and she was just itching for a piece of tail.
1950		J.T. Farrell ‘Milly and the Porker’ in Amer. Dream Girl (1950) 203: I only get a hunk of tail once a month.
1952		C. Brossard Redemption in G. Feldman (ed.) Protest (1960) 105: She was a fat, thick-witted broad and he was sure he could get [...] a piece of tail.
1966		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 213: D is for diddle, it never grows stale, / there’s nothing so good as a nice piece a tail.
1973		D. Goines Street Players 54: I just want to buy a piece of tail.
1976		(con. 1942) J. Lee Ninth Man 123: I haven’t had a piece of tail since our overnight stop in Paris.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 92: A piece of tail’s more than climbing on and banging until you blow your load.

3. (US gay) a sexual partner [tail n. (1)].

1919		Transcript Dunn Inquiry in L.R. Murphy Perverts by Official Order (1989) 27: He was seeking ‘a piece of tale’ [sic] provoked Brunelle’s suggestion that he get together with one of the ‘pipe blowers’.
1965		A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 139: They have to make it. They have to bring home a piece of tail.

a street-walker, a prostitute.

1839

Crim.-Con. Gaz. 21 Dec. 311/1: I saw Jack Everard [...] with a dashing piece of the town [...] [W] ere your wife to see you, she would very soon comb your hair.

1. a prostitute.

1949		N. Algren Man with the Golden Arm 63: He’d been promenading down Augusta Boulevard with some good-natured piece of trade.
c.1951		N. Algren ‘Watch Out for Daddy’ in Entrapment (2009) 146: Never give that piece of trade he left on the courthouse steps another thought.
1965		A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 14: Making it with a ‘hustler’ or a ‘piece of trade’ fills this need.
1967		‘Philip Barrows’ Whores, Queers & Others 2 28: I’d be like all the other queers, grateful for just a ‘piece of trade,’ happy to sip at his fountain of youth while he [...] lay there looking bored, [...] wishing I’d hurry up [...] so he could have his five or ten bucks and go out and pick up a broad.

2. (gay) a sexual partner.

1932		‘R. Scully’ Scarlet Pansy 200: One piece of trade should be good for luncheon, another for tickets to the matinee, another for dinner.
1961		‘Lou Rand’ Gay Detective (2003) 79: You can get anything in that joint from a piece of trade to a main line shot.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 53: A handsome piece of trade beside her; wonderful girl friends; and a beautiful bennie connection in the corner drugstore.
1993		R. Shell Iced 197: Then off you’d go in search of another ‘piece of trade’.

see piece of goods

see piece of ass

of a man, to seduce a girl or woman, to have sexual intercourse.

1948		(con. 1944) N. Mailer Naked and Dead 93: If one of your biddies gets a piece, he lets you know about it.
1953		Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 111: When a hillman says that he got him a piece, he means that he has had sexual intercourse.
1969		H. Rap Brown Die Nigger Die! 310: You weren’t a man if you hadn’t gotten yourself a little piece by the time you were seven.
1977		J. Sayles Union Dues (1978) 336: So’s you could go round thinkin you not a racist as the rest of them and gettin your piece at the same time.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 163: Old Chahlie rushes out there [...] while the big shot gets a little piece from his wife and daughters.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 151: Expressions for intercourse – to get a piece, to get a piece of ass/tail.
1992		(con. 1910s) F.M. Davis Livin’ the Blues 41: You mean you actually got a piece?
1999		Guardian Guide 28 Aug.–3 Sept. 69: But things really start to spice up around ovulation, with the fellas getting a piece from every passing female (ref. to monkeys).

of a man, to seduce a woman, to have sexual intercourse.

1942		in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 71: An old couple just at Shrovetide / Were having a piece—when he died.
1964		L. Nkosi Rhythm of Violence II iii: I get drunk, maybe get myself a nice soft bottom. [...] Why can’t nobody just sit down and have himself a nice piece of bottom?
1989		P. Munro Sl. U.
2006		Daily Mail 30 Aug. 27: Did ya ever have a piece of Cuban ass?

a servant who doubles as a lover.

1890–1904

Farmer & Henley Sl. and Its Analogues III 366/1: House-piece subs. [...] A servant-mistress.

(gay) an unattractive and therefore unpopular homosexual.

1970

J.P. Stanley ‘Homosexual Sl.’ in AS XLV:1/2 57: ill piece n Male homosexual held in contempt by his peers; unattractive person.

see knock off a piece under knock off v.

(US tramp) a dime (10 cents) or quarter (25 cents).

1897		J. London ‘The Road’ in Hendricks & Shepherd Jack London Reports (1970) 311–21: Attempt to translate this : – Hit a fly on the main-drag for a light piece [...] On the main street I begged a policeman in citizen’s clothes for a small sum.
1907		J. London Road 1: I could ‘throw my feet’ with the next one when it came to ‘slamming a gate’ for a poke out [...] or ‘hitting for a light piece’ on the street.
1926		N. Klein ‘Hobo Lingo’ in AS I:12 652: Light pieces—quarter of a dollar.

(US) to bribe, to pay off, to give out a ‘piece’ of cash.

1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 102: When I piece off the foreman we’ll line up again using a different monicker.
2006		F.X. Toole Pound for Pound 144: He’d piece Eloy off with 20 milliliters [of morphine].

to give someone a share.

1999

R. Glenn ‘In Your Arms’ Phase 3 on Britney Press 🌐 When he got back to New York Nick pieced up Freeze and they fell up in Some Joint in Queens, glad that they were both heavily armed.

to make a good wage.

1889–90		Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant II. 156/2: A man earning good wages, or getting a high salary, or who is successful in speculation, is said to be pulling in the pieces.
1984		Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 932/1: ca.1860–1930.

(US) to murder, to kill.

2002

‘Mobspeak Gloss.’ on University of Tampere FAST Area Studies Program 🌐 Is your shylock (who brags about being a big earner for the borgata) threatening to do a piece of work because you haven’t paid your vig, and you don’t know what the hell he’s talking about? You’ve come to the right place.

1. to attack physically.

1914		Sport (Adelaide) 4 Sept. 5/2: The two pet lambs were heard to say they would like to have a piece of Sporty. You are quite wlecome [...] you bah-bahs.
1972		A. Chipper Aussie Swearers Guide 77: Have a Piece of You. A malicious promise of hostile action.

2. to tease.

1953

T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 105: ‘You’re having a piece of me, you bastard,’ Paramor said. He looked up with a grin.

(Aus.) a summons, the root of blue n.¹ (2d)

1879		Cumberland Mercury (Parramatta) 6 Sept. 4/6: I have also noticed that several have been summoned for ‘estrays,’ but whether they are aldermen or not I do not know. That sort of thing would not do here; oh, dear no! by no means. Mr. Inspector, you must not insult an alderman of Richmond by a piece of blue paper; not if you know it, eh, Jack.
1884		Newcastle Morn, Herald (NSW) 5 Nov. 1/4: Mr. Flopper had for some time past been ‘wanted’ by an officer of the County Court who had a piece of blue paper to serve upon him - a summons for debt, in fact .
1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 58: Piece of Blue Paper, a summons.

to scold, to reprimand severely.

1904		Cumberland Argus (Parramatta, NSW) 24 Sept. 10/4: He (witness) was in the library, when he heard a few voices saying, ‘Get at him. Take a piece out of him.’ Defendant then [...] asked witness to stand up, saying, [...] ‘What right had you to stop the dance?’.
1920		Recorder (Port Pirie, SA) 19 Mar. 1/7: Witness declined an invitation to cross the fence while informant ‘took a piece out of him,’ stating that he would tackle a young fellow, but not an old man.
1941		Baker Popular Dict. Aus. Sl.
1950		Dly News (Perth) 16 May 2/5: McKenzie threatened to ‘take a piece’ out of him when he went home.
2005		R. Cea No Lights, No Sirens 15: After every stop, after every arrest, this paper must be filled out. If not, something or someone can come back and take a piece out of your ass.

(US teen) a place.

2002

Teen Lingo: The Source for Youth Ministry 🌐 this piece a residence or place. ‘We up in this piece.’.