conversation piece

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conversation piece

1. An unusual object that arouses comment or interest.

2. A genre painting, popular especially in the 1700s, depicting a group of people engaged in conversation or an activity.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

conversation piece

1. something, esp an unusual object, that provokes conversation

2. (Art Terms) (esp in 18th-century Britain) a group portrait in a landscape or domestic setting

3. (Theatre) a play emphasizing dialogue

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

conversa′tion piece`

1. any object that arouses comment because of some striking or unusual quality.

2. a group portrait of people in their customary setting.

[1775–85]

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Noun

conversation piece - something interesting that stimulates conversation

center of attention, centre of attention, center, centre - the object upon which interest and attention focuses; "his stories made him the center of the party"

Translations

conversation piece

n (antique, curiosity) → oggetto di conversazione

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

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Either way, it makes for a good conversation piece. JB

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If you've a taste for the unusual consider Pseudopanax ferox (inset), also called ferocious lancewood, which looks like a dead Christmas tree and makes a good conversation piece. It is very fast-growing and in a good season can put on a foot or more in height.

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It's called a conversation piece - because that's what it shows, that is people in conversation with each other,or perhaps taking tea together - and what's more,it also has a local interest.