playpiece

Noun

playpiece (plural playpieces)

1. (Scotland) A snack taken by a child to school to be eaten at playtime.
   • 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.1989, Joan Lingard, Sisters by Rite, →ISBN, page 29
   • 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.2002, Meg Henderson, Bloody Mary, →ISBN, page 15
2. Synonym of game piece.
   • There is no on-off switch here, because the computer is activated only when playpieces are pressed onto the peg-detection panel.1981, Howard Blumenthal, The Complete Guide to Electronic Games, →ISBN, page 106
   • 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."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

   Synonyms:

   game piece