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little piece noun phrase A relatively short distance.

1910 Cooke Power and Glory 62 You have to leave the road and walk a little piece. 1939 Hall Coll (Smokemont NC) The dogs struck, went up the creek a little piece, and treed up a little hempine. 1949 Kurath Word Geog East US 29 Instead of a little way (e.g. a little way down the road), or by the side of it, the Midland has a little piece. Ibid. 66 The expression a little piece is especially common ... in Western North Carolina, whence it spread down to the coast between the Cape Fear and the Peedee. 1966 Dakin Vocab Ohio River Valley 295 The Midland expression a little piece is commonly used everywhere and at all social levels in Kentucky. Among the younger, more educated speakers and those who live in towns and cities this expression is usually used in addition to a little way(s), a short distance, etc., but among many older rural speakers it appears to be the only and regular expression of this idea. Ibid. 297-99 Especially in Kentucky, the reduced expression a piece (down the road) is fairly common. This is frequently used in addition to a little piece, but for some a piece seems to be regular. A number of Kentuckians indicate the use of a short piece and several speakers in the southern Mountains say a piece o’ways ... Among those speakers who say a little piece, the expressions a long piece, a good piece, quite a piece, a far piece, and a right smart piece, are fairly common. It is quite evident, however, that many speakers who use piece in reference to a short distance restrict the word to that usage and say way(s) when speaking of a longer distance. 1998 Dante OHP-45 I just went out the road here justa little piece from here and cut across to Austin Gap.