mainpiece
/ˈmeɪnpis/
mainpiece noun: the primary play or other work performed at an evening's entertainment at the theatre, as opposed to smaller introductory or additional works.
Noun
mainpiece (plural mainpieces)
- The primary play or other work performed at an evening's entertainment at the theatre, as opposed to smaller introductory or additional works.
- A typical evening at the principal Dublin theatres could extend over five or six hours and consisted of a mainpiece, frequently with a prologue and epilogue, followed by one, and occasionally two, afterpieces.1993, John C Greene, Gladys LH Clark, The Dublin Stage, 1720–1745, page 72
- Drury Lane and Covent Garden put on mainly spoken plays; the all-sung operas staged there were usually afterpieces in English, though operas with spoken dialogue also appeared among the mainpieces in various guises, including ballad opera and burletta.2007, Michael Burden, edited by Moody & O'Quinn, British Theatre 1730-1830, page 205
- The principal part of a ship's head; the principal piece of timber in a rudder.
Forms of mainpiece
| plural | mainpieces |
|---|---|
| alternative form | main-piece |
Origin of mainpiece
From main + piece.
Questions about mainpiece
- What does mainpiece mean?
- Mainpiece means the primary play or other work performed at an evening's entertainment at the theatre, as opposed to smaller introductory or additional works.
- What part of speech is mainpiece?
- Mainpiece is a noun.
- How do you pronounce mainpiece?
- Mainpiece is pronounced /ˈmeɪnpis/.
- What is the plural of mainpiece?
- The plural of mainpiece is mainpieces.
Words near mainpiece in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: mainpiece (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “mainpiece.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mainpiece. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.