playpiece

English

Etymology

From play +‎ piece.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪ.piːs/

Noun

playpiece (plural playpieces)

1. (Scotland) A snack taken by a child to school to be eaten at playtime.
   • 1989, Joan Lingard, Sisters by Rite‎, →ISBN, page 29:

     She was jealous of me going though, wanted to see the inside of the Laverys' house for herself, and was in a bad mood with me for the whole of the following day at school. She had three chocolate digestives for her playpiece and wouldn’t give me one.

   • 2002, Meg Henderson, Bloody Mary‎, →ISBN, page 15:

     They would hunker down in a corner of the schoolyard at playtimes and he would give Betty whatever was left over from the night before, or whatever he had been given for a playpiece.

   • 2020, Jeff Zycinski, Travels from my Twlight Zone‎, →ISBN:

     There were also the 'playpieces' you took to school, although, to confuse the issue slightly, a playpiece didn't always have to include a bread sandwich. It could simply be a chocolate biscuit tucked into your leather satchel to be enjoyed at morning break along with the carton of free milk.

2. Synonym of game piece.
   • 1981, Howard Blumenthal, The Complete Guide to Electronic Games‎, →ISBN, page 106:

     There is no on-off switch here, because the computer is activated only when playpieces are pressed onto the peg-detection panel.

   • 1986, John Jakes, “Storm in a Bottle”, in Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh, editors, The Mammoth Book of Short Fantasy Novels‎, →ISBN, page 285:

     He kicked at the fallen playpieces and added, with a smile that bore no malice, "It can't be any more useless than trying to teach a thick-skulled foreigner this noble game."

   • 2000 February 1, Official Gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office‎, volume 1231, number 1, page 203:

     An educational board game comprising a game apparatus including: […] a plurality of playpieces, each playpiece being adapted to be placed on a space on said travel path […]