piece - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
piece n
1 A distance or period of time, usually a short or indefinite one; hence little piece = a relatively short distance; far piece = a relatively great distance. [oed piece n 15a ‘a portion of the space or distance between two points, a short distance’ 1612→, now dialectal; dost pece n 12 ‘a distance, especially a short distance’ 15th century→, chiefly dialect; snd piece n1 2(3) ‘an indefinite space or distance, short for piece of gate, ground, etc.’; dare piece n 7 ‘an indefinite (often short) distance of travel’ widespread, but more frequent South, Midland, Texas]
Ulst.:
1933 Foster Tyrone among Bushes 80 Aloud he said, ‘Aye, it’s not a great piece from here’.
1948 Marshall Planted by River 56 The good woman gave me a tearful farewell, and her busband convoyed me a piece along the road.
1953 Traynor Donegal Glossary 211 = (1) an indefinite space or distance: ‘I’ll go a piece along the road with you’; (2) a short period of time: ‘Wait a piece and I’ll be with you’.
1955 Murphy Culprit of Shadows 17 I’m going up the road apiece for a lock of minutes … to lose a quid or two.
1969 Braidwood Ulster Dial Lex 32 To put someone a piece of the road in Ulster is ’to accompany or convoy him part of the way’.
U.S.:
1800 Osborn Diary (16 Jan) I rode a peace with her this evening.
1858 (in 1983 Heap Bucks Co Word List 45-46) We left the cars and stepped into an omnibus … and rode quite a good piece.
1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 518 = in the sense of a while, a small distance, is provincial in the north of England and, with us, in Pennsylvania: ‘Go a piece with me’ and ‘Won’t you go along a piece farther?’ are common expressions.
1909 Payne Word-list East Alabama 357 = distance.
1939 Hall Coll I run [a raccoon] a little piece and catched it.
1973 GSMNP-76:3 They was a big hollow run down here. They call it the Groundhog Hollow, and he went up it [a] little piece.
1983 Broaddus and McAtee Estill Co Word List 29 little piece = a short distance.
2 A snack or small packed lunch, as for a school child, most often a slice of bread with butter or another spread. [oed piece n 15b ‘short for “piece of bread” (with or without butter, etc.), specifically such a piece eaten by itself, not as part of a regular meal’ →1787, Scottish and English dialect; dare piece n 8 ‘a slice of bread, usually with some topping; a snack or light meal’; lausc North Midland]
Ulst.:
1853 Herbison My Ain Native Toun Whan wandering wi’ ither sculeboys to the scule, / Wi’ piece in my satchel and rule, / Nae pride was amang us, nae boastin’ o’ gear.
1880 Patterson Antrim/Down Glossary 77 = what a child gets for lunch; it is generally a piece of bread.
1886 Lyttle Sons of Sod 30 We hae jist din eatin a peece breid an’ butter.
1905 Marshall Dial of Ulster 125 = luncheon: ‘Is it near piece time?’
1939 Gallagher My Story 16 We ate what we had left over of our pieces and started.
1942 Bangor Words 60 = a lunch which is wrapped up in paper, and is taken by a child to be eaten in school at the lunch hour, or by the adult to be eaten on the premises, at the lunch interval.
1953 Traynor Donegal Glossary 211 = (1) a part or portion of anything, a little (often with omission of of): ‘a piece bread and butter’; (2) a slice of bread and butter, especially a school child’s lunch.
1983 Pepper Ulster Knowledge 15 The oul lad has a wee plastic bax for his piece.
1991 O’Kane You Don’t Say 105 = (1) a slice of bread spread with butter and jam or similar relish: ‘Would you like some syrup on your piece?’; (2) the food eaten at lunch-breaks by workmen on building sites and which they bring in a ‘piece-box’, i.e. a square biscuit tin or similar box.
2003 Dodds Newry Nyuck = sandwich (in packed lunch).
2014 Fenton Hamely Tongue 176 = a slice of bread with butter, jam, etc.; a packed lunch: ’Whut wud ye lake in yer piece?’; piece-box = lunch-box.
U.S.:
1859 Bartlett Americanisms 320 = a piece of bread and butter, a snack: ‘Have you had your 11 o’clock piece?’
1870 Notes 56 ‘It’s time to get piece’ was [in Pennsylvania] the way of saying it was time to prepare luncheon, ‘piece’ being still the term for a child’s lunch in the north of Ireland.
1930 Shoemaker 1300 Penn Words 47 = a large slice of bread spread with apple butter or jelly.
1949 Kurath Word Geog East US 72 Piece is in general use in all of Pennsylvania (except for Philadelphia and its immediate vicinity), in northern West Virginia, and in the Ohio Valley. It is less common in the Shenandoah Valley and rather rare on the Kanawha [River], where the Southern snack has become established.
Purchase From Ulster to America
The second, revised edition of Michael Montgomery’s From Ulster to America is now available here:
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (Europe)
From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English (North America)
