by the piece
1
3.4
- idiom
:
por unidad
- Now you buy it by the piece.
- pay by the piece
Examples
-
The artisans are compensated by the piece, allowing them to earn more with each item they create.
-
Written by an insider who has worked as a test scorer, the article outlines a multinational industry based on an army of temporary workers paid by the piece at $0.30 to $0.70 per test, translating to the need to grade 40 tests per hour to make a $12 salary.
Blog text (22) -
Now we sell it by the piece.
Blog text (28) -
I do laundry, too, but I charge by the piece for that.
Fiction book (1999) -
For contractors, paying by the piece guarantees that laborers will work quickly.
Blog text (4) -
In 1995, Olga and an older sister stopped working for Pepe and Mercedes and established their own business in which they paid painters and carvers by the piece.
Academic text (2000) -
When Villalobos worked as a mayordomo for farm-labor contractors during the boom of the 1980s, he says they paid only by the piece and altered hours on checks to give the impression that they were paying the minimum wage.
Blog text (4) -
During the busy season, the factory hires workers who are paid by the piece to increase productivity.
-
Freelancers often prefer projects that pay by the piece instead of a fixed hourly rate.
Synonyms
186
1.4
Things happen one after another, not at the same time
136
2.5
Happening one at a time and not with others
107
1.9
Handle each person or thing in turn, not all at once
Antonyms
How Individual
1
3.4
136
2.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
by + the + piece
The meaning 'individually; one item at a time' is transparently built from 'by' (marking rate or unit) + 'piece' (an individual item), following the same compositional pattern as 'by the hour' or 'by the pound'. This unit-rate construction is cross-linguistically common and the definite article does not prevent a learner who knows the parts from inferring the overall meaning.
Etymology
The phrase by the piece comes from markets and workshops where sellers sold items one at a time and each piece was counted and paid for separately. So by the piece means 'individually' or 'one item at a time', not all together.