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Any flat, thin piece of metal, clay, ivory, or the like, used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a slab, plate, dish, or the like, hung upon a wall; also, a smaller decoration worn on the person, as a brooch.

A piece of DNA, usually circular, functioning as part of the genetic material of a cell, not integrated with the chromosome and replicating independently of the chromosome, but transferred, like the chromosome, to subsequent generations. In bacteria, plasmids often carry the genes for antibiotic resistance; they are ex…

A piece of leather stuffed or padded, worn by fencers to protect the breast. Dryden.

A small piece or plot of ground laid out with some design, or for a special use; usually, a portion of flat, even ground. This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve. Milton. I keep smooth plat of fruitful ground. Tennyson.

A flat, or nearly flat, piece of metal, the thickness of which is small in comparison with the other dimensions; a thick sheet of metal; as, a steel plate.

The attendants . . . speedly brought in several large, smoking platters, filled with huge pieces of beef. Sir W. Scott.

To perform, as a piece of music, on an instrument; as, to play a waltz on the violin.

A piece of ground used for recreation; as, the playground of a school.

One of the lateral pieces of a somite of an insect.

The antero-lateral piece which articulates the sternum of birds.

Any piece of wood, metal, or other substance used to stop or fill a hole; a stopple.

A piece of lead attached to a line, used in sounding the depth of water. I'll sink him deeper than e'er plummet sounded. Shak.

A hole or space covered by a movable piece of board, as in a floor, boxing, partitions, or the like.

An aboriginal weapon consisting of a stone or piece of antler fastened to the end of a slender wooden handle, used by American Indians from the Great Plains to the Mackenzie River.

A short piece of cordage used in reefing sails. See Reef point, under Reef.

he projectile first strikes the horizontal plane on which the gun stands, the axis of the piece being horizontal.

, at the various distances from the surface of a block of marble, the surface of a future piece of statuary; also, a process used in cutting the statue from the artist's model.

A vessel with two or three masts, used in the Mediterranean. The masts are usually of one piece, and without tops, caps, or crosstrees.

A long, slender piece of wood; a tall, slender piece of timber; the stem of a small tree whose branches have been removed; as, specifically: (a) A carriage pole, a wooden bar extending from the front axle of a carriage between the wheel horses, by which the carriage is guided and held back. (b) A flag pole, a pole on w…

An article of dress for women, consisting of a body and an outer skirt in one piece.