piece of goods
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English
[edit]Noun
[edit]piece of goods (plural pieces of goods)
- (slang, obsolete) A person, especially one with undesirable flaws or other notable characteristics.
- Hyponym: piece of work
- 1871, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Fenton's Quest:
- 'Well, upon my word,' exclaimed the father, taking the pipe from his mouth, and staring aghast at his daughter in a stupor of indignant surprise, 'you're a pretty article; you're a nice piece of goods for a man to bring up and waste his substance upon […]
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see piece, of, goods.
- 1889, N.Y. Supreme Court General Term, page 34:
- Usually a silk salesman, a man is accustomed to take his piece of goods and handle them, and roll them out and show them to his customers, […]
Related terms
[edit]References
[edit]- John Camden Hotten (1873) “Gentlemen of the counter-jumping fraternity describe their 'young ladies' as 'nice pieces of goods.'”, in The Slang Dictionary