piecing

Pluralpiecings

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle of piece.

   The historians are piecing the fragments of the manuscript into a readable whole.

   Piecing the scattered clues together, the detective finally named a suspect.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every sense of the verb piece. It can mean assembling, patching, making graffiti more complex than a tag (in slang), or snacking (dated and informal, usually piecing on something). As a gerund it names an activity, as in the piecing of fragments, and takes no plural. By contrast, the countable "patch" noun names the thing sewn in and has the plural piecings. In the patching sense, the verb often takes out.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A patch; a piece of material used to mend, cover, or strengthen a hole or worn area.

   A leather piecing reinforced each elbow of the old hunting coat.

   The tailor stitched a neat piecing across the frayed seam.

   Similarpatch

   Note

   In dressmaking, a piecing is something to hide. Clarice L. Scott's Make-overs from Coats and Suits (1944) advises laying out a pattern so that piecings and repairs fall where they won't show: in hems, facings, underarm. The noun is countable, so a remade garment can carry several piecings. It names the result of piecing in the verb's sense of enlarging or repairing by adding a piece.

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