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The air or tune of a musical piece.

h a verb in the singular, and corresponding to the present indefinite one or they. [Obs.] Piers Plowman. Men moot give silver to the poure triars. Chaucer. A privy thief, men clepeth death. Chaucer.

ss; state or condition; as, aliment, that which nourishes, ornament, increment; fragment, piece broken, segment; abridgment, act of abridging, imprisonment, movement, adjournment; amazement, state of being amazed, astonishment.

Murky. [Obs.] Piers Plowman.

The ventral piece of the middle segment of the thorax in insects.

A person of strict piety; one who lives in the exact observance of religious duties; -- sometimes so called in contempt or ridicule.

A piece of parchment bearing the Decalogue and attached to the doorpost; -- in use among orthodox Hebrews.

A piece of bread sopped in milk; figuratively, an effeminate or weak-minded person. Shak. To wed a milksop or a coward ape. Chaucer.

To reduce to fine particles, or to small pieces, in a mill; to grind; to comminute.

To cut into very small pieces; to chop fine; to hash; as, to mince meat. Bacon.

, etc., chopped very fine, to which spices and raisins are added; -- used in making mince pie.

A pie made of mince-meat.

A conical rifle bullet, with a cavity in its base plugged with a piece of iron, which, by the explosion of the charge, is driven farther in, expanding the sides to fit closely the grooves of the barrel.

re; clouded; as, misty sight. The more I muse therein [theology], The mistier it seemeth. Piers Plowman.

The surface forming the beveled end or edge of a piece where a miter joint is made; also, a joint formed or a junction effected by two beveled ends or edges; a miter joint.

ts whether it were possible for a community to exist that had not a prevailing mixture of piety in its constitution. Addison.

A shoe made of deerskin, or other soft leather, the sole and upper part being one piece. It is the customary shoe worn by the American Indians.

The principal piece of an astrolabe, into which the others are fixed. [Obs.]

rd for propriety in speech or action. Her blush is guiltiness, not modesty. Shak. Modesty piece, a narrow piece of lace worn by women over the bosom. [Obs.] Addison.

t, or until the music becomes established in the new key; a shifting of the tonality of a piece, so that the harmonies all center upon a new keynote or tonic; the art of transition out of the original key into one nearly related, and so on, it may be, by successive changes, into a key quite remote. There are also sudde…