piecer

English

Etymology

From piece +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpiːsə(ɹ)/

Noun

piecer (plural piecers)

1. Someone or something that pieces.
   • 2022, Giovanni Papini, Life of Christ:

     […] the arrogant Scribes, […] piecers-together of lies, belching out pus and ink.

2. (historical, 19th century England) A child employed in a cotton mill or spinning mill to tie together broken threads.
   • 1854, Chambers's Repository of Instructive and Amusing Tracts:

     The piecers follow the frame in its alternate movements, catching up the broken threads, and skilfully reuniting them

   • November 1898, A. S. Biggart, “A Biographical Sketch of the Great Bridge Builder”, in Cassier's Magazine:

     William Arrol had little schooling, for, at the early age of nine years, he began work as a piecer in a Johnstone cotton-mill.

3. (in combination) An item, especially clothing, made up of the specified number of pieces.
   • 1907, Men’s Wear, page 30:

     Outing ‘two-piecers’ that combine style and comfort in phantom-weight flannels, tropical worsteds and serges show the highest register in favoritism, and the Eiseman Bros.’ make, you know, are the universal favorites.

   • 1926, Collier’s, page 10:

     Girls sit unashamed on the sand with their one-piecers pulled down almost to their waistlines to tempt the coppery tan.

   • 1946, Baltimore and Ohio Employes Magazine, page 21:

     Jumpers of every type, smart two-piecers.

   • 1971 September, Patricia Doran, “The Right Ski Wear for the Shape You Are In”, in Ski, page 80:

     Many of these one-piecers have inserts at either the shoulder blades or the middle of the back for extra stretch without bulk.

   • 2005, Jack McKinney, Robert Gordon, Jack McKinney’s Tales from Saint Joseph’s Hardwood: The Hawk Will Never Die, Sports Publishing, →ISBN, page 21:

     We were relaxing on our lounge chairs when three very attractive ladies got up from their chairs and converted their two-piece bathing suits into one-piecers by removing their tops.

   • 2009, PJ Piccirillo, Heartwood, Middleton Books, →ISBN, page 5:

     They assembled home-cut poles of bamboo—a two-piecer for Tobias, a three-piecer for his father.

   • 2021, Louise Langford, Nessie, Xlibris, →ISBN:

     Each year, just before winter, daddy bought some long underwear—the one-piecers you see in the movies.

   • 2022 February 15, Nicole Phelps, “Peter Do Fall 2022 Ready-to-Wear Collection”, in Vogue‎^[1], archived from the original on 16 February 2022:

     For evening he showed a trio of monochrome three-piecers that combined trousers, waistcoats elongated to the ankles, and double-face coats worn shrugged off the shoulders to expose bare arms and back.

Derived terms

• big piecer
• little piecer

References

• “piecer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Peirce, Pierce, pierce, recipe, recipé