Meanings
plural museum pieces
- An item worthy of being kept by a museum.
These excursions proved popular, and it is, perhaps, not too much to hope that British Railways will revive the idea, and use museum pieces to stage exhibitions of trains of bygone days.
1950 October, H. C. Casserley, “Locomotive Cavalcade, 1920-1950—4”, in Railway Magazine, page 660 - slangA very old item, especially an obsolete piece of technology.
Jim's car is a real museum piece.
1 more example
A Sinclair Spectrum computer is now just a museum piece.
Origin
Referring to the preservation of historic artifacts in museums.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech muzeální kousek
- muzeální kousekold item
Finnish museoesine, museoesine
- museoesineitem worthy of being kept by a museum
- museoesineold item
French pièce de musée
- pièce de muséeitem worthy of being kept by a museum
German Museumsstück
- Museumsstückold item
Cite this entry
museum piece. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/museum%20piece
“museum piece.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/museum%20piece. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “museum piece,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/museum%20piece.
Source: museum piece on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.