picture book
1046
'picture book n a book for young children, made up mostly
of pictures
'picture card n a COURT CARD (FACE CARD AmE)
Picture of Do-ri-an Gray, The /ˌpɪktʃər ɒv ˌdɒriən
'greɪ/ (1891) a novel by Oscar WILDE about a beautiful young
man, Dorian Gray, who has a painting of himself that he
keeps in the ATTIC (=a room under the roof) of his house.
Dorian Gray's own face remains young and beautiful, but
the face in the painting looks older and more ugly as Gray
becomes more and more evil and immoral.
,picture 'postcard n inml for POSTCARD
'picture-postcard adj [A] very pretty; picturesque: a picture-
postcard village
'picture rail n a long, narrow piece of wood, plastic etc fixed
to the upper part of living-room walls in older houses, for
hanging pictures from
pic-tures /'pɪktʃəz; ˈɪrz/ BrE || movies especially AmE ⇨ n
infml 1 [the P] old-fash the cinema: Are you going to the pictures
tonight? 2 [P] the business of producing or acting in cinema
films: He's in pictures.
pic-tur-esque /ˌpɪktʃə'resk/ adj 1 (especially of a place)
charming and interesting enough to be made into a picture:
a picturesque scene/village 2 (of a person or their manner,
clothes etc) rather strange and unusual: He was a picturesque
figure with his long beard and strange old clothes. 3 often euph
(of language) unusually clear, strong, and descriptive —ly
adv ness n [U]
'picture window n a large window made of a single piece
of glass, usually placed so that it looks out over an attractive
view
pid-dle /'pɪdl/ v [I] infml 1 BrE for URINATE 2 AmE to waste time;
DAWDLE —piddle n [U]
pid-dling /'pɪdlɪŋ/ adj derog small and unimportant: piddling
details
pid-gin /'pɪdʒən/ n [C;U] a language which is a mixture of
two or more other languages, especially as used between
people who do not speak each other's language: pidgin
English → compare CREOLE, LINGUA FRANCA
pie /paɪ/ n [C;U] 1 (often in comb.) a pastry case, especially a
round one, filled with meat or fruit and covered with pastry,
baked in a deep dish (pie dish): a cherry pie | a meat pie. →
compare TART 2 pie in the sky inml a hopeful plan or
suggestion that has not been, or has little chance of being,
put into effect → see also APPLE PIE, CUSTARD PIE, MUD PIE,
PIE CHART, as easy as pie (EASY), have a finger in every pie
(FINGER) 3 nice as pie used in order to say that someone is
being very nice to you, especially when you did not expect
them to be, or are not sure that they really like you: Bill was
nice as pie to us, but I still felt uncomfortable around him. | I
can never tell what Gwen's thinking, although she seems nice
as pie.
USAGE In British English a pie usually has a pastry cover; if
there is no cover it is called a tart (if it is filled with fruit) or
a flan. In American English a pie may or may not have a
cover.
,pie and 'mash n [C;U] BrE (a serving of) a small PIE (=meat
covered with pastry) served with mashed (MASH) potatoes,
typically served in cheap restaurants
pie-bald /'paɪbɔːld/ n, adj (a horse) coloured with large black
and white PATCHES → compare SKEWBALD
piece /piːs/ n 1 [C[of]] a bit, such as a) a part of anything
solid which is separated, broken, or marked off from a larger
part or a whole body: a piece of chalk/sellotape/string/cake |
pieces of broken glass b) a single object that is an example
of a kind or class, or that forms part of a set: a piece of paper
(=a whole sheet) | a piece of furniture (=a chair, bed, table
etc) | a piece of sculpture (=a STATUE etc) | a piece of music (=a
song, SYMPHONY etc) | (fig.) Let me give you a piece of (=some)
advice. 2 [C] a) any of many parts made to be fitted
together: This jigsaw had 2000 pieces, but some are missing. |
This chair comes to pieces. (=can be taken apart) | I'm going
to take the engine to pieces (=separate it into parts) to see
what's wrong with it. | It just fell to pieces in my hands.
(=came apart) b) (usually in comb.) an object or person forming
part of a set: a 36-piece dinner service | an 80-piece orchestra
(=one with 80 players or instruments) 3 [C] any of a set of
small round objects or figures used in playing certain board
games, especially CHESS: Which piece moves diago-
nally? 4 [C] something whole and complete made by an
ARTIST or other skilful person: This is one of Rodin's finest
pieces. (= STATUES) | This piece (=of music) should be played
very slowly. 5 [C usually sing.] a short written statement in a
newspaper, magazine etc: Did you see the piece in the paper
about Mrs Smith's accident? 6 [C] a coin, especially of the
stated value: a 50-pence piece | a ten-cent piece | 30 pieces of
silver 7 [(the) S] an amount of work (to be) done: We pay our
workers by the piece here, not by the time they take to do the
work. → see also PIECEWORK 8 (all) in one piece infml a) (of
a thing) undamaged; still whole b) (of a person) unharmed,
especially after an accident: She was lucky to survive the
crash all in one piece. 9 give someone a piece of one's
mind infml to tell someone angrily what one thinks of them:
I'm going to give that little rascal a piece of my mind when I
catch him! 10 go (all) to pieces infml to lose the ability to
think or act clearly because of fear, sorrow etc: Under the
pressure of police questioning she went to pieces and confessed
everything. 11 of a piece a) like each other in character:
They're all of a piece. b) in agreement: His action is of a
piece with what he has been saying he will do for the past few
months. 12 piece by piece one by one; one part at a
time 13 pull someone/something to pieces to say or show
that someone/something is worthless by pointing at the
weak points or faults: The committee pulled my proposal to
pieces. 14 say one's piece to say what one wants to or has
planned to say, especially in a way that is annoying or
unwelcome to others: I've said my piece, so I'll be going now.
→ see also MUSEUM PIECE, PARTY PIECE, SET PIECE, the villain
of the piece (VILLAIN)
piece v
piece sthg. ⇔ together phr v [T] to make (something,
especially a story or an account of events) complete by
gradually finding all the parts and adding them to each
other: The detectives tried to piece together the facts.
pi-èce de ré-sis-tance /ˌpiː;es də reziː'sta:ns/ n pl.
pièces de résistance (same pronunciation) Fr the best or most
important thing or event among a number, especially one
that comes or is shown after all the others
piece-meal /'piːsmiːl/ adj, adv (done, made etc) bit by bit;
only one part at a time: The college buildings were put
together piecemeal.
,piece of 'cake n [S] infml something very easy to do: That
exam was a piece of cake!
,piece of 'eight n [usually pl.] (especially in stories) a silver
coin formerly used in Spain. In humorous stories about
PIRATES, the pirate often has a PARROT on his shoulder who
says 'pieces of eight' repeatedly.
,piece of 'work n 1 something made or done, especially of
the stated quality: This watch is a fine piece of work. 2 infml
someone who is disliked or disapproved of in the stated
way: Look out for him; he's a nasty piece of work.
'piece rate n a fixed amount of money paid for each thing
that a worker produces: dressmakers working on a piece rate
piece-work /'piːswɜːkl-wɜːrk/ n [U] work paid for by the
amount done rather than by the hours worked
'pie chart n a circle divided into several parts that shows the
way in which something, such as a population or an
amount of money, is divided up: The students drew up a pie
chart of government spending/the racial composition of their
school/the uses of local land. → see picture at CHART
pie-crust /'paɪ-krʌst/ n [C;U] the baked pastry of a PIE
pied /paɪd/ adj [A] (especially of certain types of bird) irregu-
larly coloured with two or more colours, especially black
and white: a pied wagtail
pied-à-terre /ˌpjeɪd æ 'tər | piˌed aː-/ n pl. pieds-à-terre
(same pronunciation) Fr a small set of rooms or second home
which one keeps for use when needed: They live in the
country but they've got a pied-à-terre in London.
Pied Piper n 1 the Pied Piper (of Hamelin) the main
character in an old story about a man who got rid of all the
rats from the town of Hamelin in Germany, by playing his
FLUTE and making the rats follow him into the river and
DROWN in it. When he was not paid for this job, the Pied