Forms: 1 specca, 5–7 specke, 5 spe(c)kke, speke; 4, 7, 9 U.S. spec, 5 spekk, 6 spek, 7– speck. [OE. specca, not found in the cognate languages, but cf. SPECKLE sb.]
1. A small spot of a different color or substance to that of the material or surface upon which it appears; a minute mark or discoloration. Occas. const. of (cf. 2).
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), N 160. Notae, speccan.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd. (Rolls), II. 88. Smire þonne þa speccan mid þære sealfe.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 551. On spec of a spote may spede to mysse Of þe syȝte of þe souerayn þat syttez so hyȝe.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVI. xciv. (Bodl. MS.). Salte doþ awey speckkes [1495 speckles] in þe face ȝif it is itempered wiþ water camphora. Ibid., XVIII. lxxxi. Pantera … is a beeste paynted wiþ smal rounde speckes [1495 speckles]: so þat al his skynne semeth fulle of yȝen bi diuersite of speckes blacke, white and rede.
1530. Palsgr., 274/1. Specke, marke, marcque.
1591. Percivall, Sp. Dict., Peca, a specke, a spot in the face, macula, næuus.
1611. Cotgr., Tacheture, a spot, specke, or speckle.
1671. Grew, Anat. Pl., I. (1684), 5. Divers small Specks, of a different colour from that of the Parenchyma,… may be observ’d.
1727. Gay, Fables, Peacock, Turkey & Goose, 2. In beauty faults conspicuous grow, The smallest speck is seen on snow….
1787–9. Wordsw., Even. Walk, 356. But now the clear bright Moon her zenith gains, And, rimy without speck, extend the plains.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 745. Give the little speck of light reflected from the pupil of the eye, with pure white.
1868. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1877), II. vii. 34. Such faults seemed little more than a few specks on a burnished mirror.
b. With adjs. of color, etc.
c. 1050. in Wr.-Wülcker, 446. Maculam pullam, þone sweartan speccan.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 7. Bespotted with Purple speckes and bloud coloured vaines.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 641. The saphir … shineth with golden speckes in it.
1663. Boyle, Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos., I. iii. 54. The cicatricula or little whitish speck discernable in the coat of the eggs yolk.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., I. 239. The Skin of it is all spotted black and white, with some yellowish specks.
a. 1701. Maundrell, Journ Jerus., River Euphr. (1749), 158. Stone very much resembling Porphyry, being of red ground, with yellow specks and veins, very glossy.
1796. Stedman, Surinam (1813), II. xxviii. 348. The timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks.
1818–20. E. Thompson, trans. Cullen’s Nosologia, 325. An efflorescence consisting of small, distinct, purple specks and patches.
1877. Huxley & Martin, Elem. Biol., 18. In some Amœbæ a clear space makes its appearance…. After a while, a small clear speck appears at the same spot.
fig. 1822. Lamb, Elia, I. Praise Chimney Sweepers. I have a kindly yearning towards these dim specks—poor blots—innocent blacknesses.
c. Applied to things rendered extremely small by distance or by comparison with their surroundings. (Common in 19th cent.)
1656. Cowley, Pindar. Odes, Extasie, ii. Where shall I find the noble Brittish Land? Lo, I at last a Northern Spec espie, Which in the Sea does lie!
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 723. What the eye sees distinctly at once, is comparatively but a speck in the vast scene.
1819. Byron, Juan, II. xiii. The town became a speck, From which away so fair and fast they bore.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., § 321. We find … that the whole solar system is but a mere speck in the universe.
d. Applied to a very small or distant cloud. Freq. in fig. context.
1726–46. Thomson, Summer, 987. Amid the heavens, Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy speck.
1831. D. E. Williams, Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence, II. 73. The speck destined to be the tempest of future life.
a. 1832. Mackintosh, Revol. 1688, Wks. 1846, II. 230. Not a speck in the heavens seemed to the common eye to forebode a storm.
1878. Stubbs, Const. Hist., III. xviii. 211. The solitary speck that clouded the future of the dynasty.
2. A small or minute particle of something.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 743. Als sprent of my spittyng a specke on þi chere, Þou sall be diȝt to þe deth.
1587. D. Fenner, Song of Songs, i. 10. With speckes of siluer very fine they set about shalbe.
1664. Power, Exp. Philos., I. 23. The Gloworm…. Her Eyes … are two small black points or specks of jett.
1839. De la Beche, Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xi. 327. These bunches frequently containing strings and specks of ore.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. xxi. 342. We watch the ice … and find that every speck of dirt upon it retains its position.
1879. Harlan, Eyesight, v. 52. Specks of iron and steel, however, may often be removed … by the use of a strong magnet.
fig. 1713. Young, Last Day, III. 251. Call back thy thunders, Lord,… Nor with a speck of wretchedness engage.
1757. Mrs. Griffith, Lett. Henry & Frances (1767), III. 252. A man of Sense, Taste, and Virtue!… who magnifies her every Speck of Merit!
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., I. iii. The only speck of interest that presents itself to my … view.
b. Without const. Also fig.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 310. In these so little bodies (nay pricks and specks rather than bodies indeed).
1712. Blackmore, Creation, VI. 282. Each vital Speck, in which remains Th’ entire, but rumpled Animal.
1748. Anson’s Voy., II. vii. 214. Here we struck ground…, and found the bottom to consist of grey sand, with black specks.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxiv. (1854), 298. An almost constant deposition of crystalline specks, which covered our decks with a sort of hoar-frost.
1855. J. Phillips, Man. Geol., 201. Coarse sandstone with carbonaceous specks.
a. 1862. Buckle, Misc. Wks. (1872), I. 18. What we have done is but a speck compared to what remains to be done.
1883. S. C. Hall, Retrospect, I. 258. He … deemed it a duty … to magnify faults and dwindle virtues to specks.
c. A small piece, portion, etc., of ground or land.
1538. Leland, Itin. (1769), VII. 31. The hole Foreste of Maxwel except it be a smaul Spek is yn Chestre.
1796. Stedman, Surinam (1813), I. vii. 166. My negroes having made a temporary kind of bridge, to step from the yawl upon a small speck of dry ground.
1800. Coleridge, Piccolom., I. x. Yield them up that dot, that speck of land.
d. Not … a speck, not at all. U.S.
1843. Haliburton, Sam Slick in Eng., I. ii. 31. I doubled up my fist, for I didn’t like it [the treatment] a spec.
3. A small spot as indicative of a defective, diseased or faulty condition; a blot, blemish or defect.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 636. The best [glass] is that which is … free of blemishes, as blisters, specks, streaks, &c.
1859. Tennyson, Merlin & V., 393. The … little pitted speck in garner’d fruit, That rotting inward slowly moulders all.
1909. Cent. Dict., Suppl. s.v., White speck of tobacco, a disease … caused by the fungus Macrosporium tabacinum.
transf. and fig. c. 1785. Courtenay, in Boswell’s Johnson (Oxf. ed.), I. 525. Hence not alone are brighter parts display’d, But e’en the specks of character pourtray’d.
1815. Mackintosh, Speech, Wks. 1846, III. 317. What is destroyed by the slightest speck of corruption [etc.].
1825. Scott, Talism., xvii. Can all the pearls of the East atone for a speck upon England’s honour?
1878. Browning, Poets Croisic, 36. Not a dint Nor speck had damaged ‘Ode to Araminte.’
b. slang. (See quots. 1851.)
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 88/1. The damaged oranges are known as ‘specks.’ Ibid., 117/1. The shrivelled, dwarfish, or damaged fruit—called by the street-traders the ‘specks.’
1897. Daily News, 9 Sept., 3/7. He heard children asking for ‘farthingsworths of specks’ at defendant’s stall.
4. In moth-names (see quots.).
1832. J. Rennie, Consp. Butterfl. & Moths, 89. The White Speck (L[eucania] unipuncta …). A minute white dot at the base of the hinder stigma. Ibid., 135. The Tawny Speck (E[upithecia] subfulvata …) appears the beginning of August.
