Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small spot, mark, or discoloration.
- noun A tiny amount; a bit.
- transitive verb To mark with specks.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A very small superficial spot or stain; a small dot, blot, blotch, or patch appearing on or adhering to a surface: as, specks of mold on paper; fly -specks on a wall.
- noun In fruit, specifically, a minute spot denoting the beginning of decay; a pit or spot of rot or rottenness; hence, sometimes, a fruit affected by rot.
- noun A patch or piece of some material.
- noun Something appearing as a spot or patch; a small piece spread out: as, a speck of snow or of cloud.
- noun A distinct or separate piece or particle; a very little bit; an atom; a mite: as, specks of dust; a speck of snuff or of soot; hence, the smallest quantity; the least morsel: as, he has not a speck of humor or of generosity.
- noun A percoid fish, Ulocentra stigmæa of Jordan, common in ponds of the hill-country from Georgia to Louisiana. It is a darter, 2½ inches long, of an olivaceous color, speckled with small orange spots, and otherwise variegated.
- noun A speck-moth.
- noun Fat; lard; fat meat. Now used chiefly as derived from the German in the parts of Pennsylvania originally settled by Germans, or from the Dutch in New York (also in South Africa, for the fat meat of the hippopotamus); among whalers it is used for whale's blubber.
- To spot; mark or stain in spots or dots.
- Of fruit, specifically, to mark with a discolored spot denoting decay or rot: usually in the past participle.
- To stain or dot with ink small blemishes in (a finished fabric), so as to conceal or obliterate them.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A small discolored place in or on anything, or a small place of a color different from that of the main substance; a spot; a stain; a blemish.
- noun A very small thing; a particle; a mite
- noun (Zoöl.) A small etheostomoid fish (
Ulocentra stigmæa ) common in the Eastern United States. - transitive verb To cause the presence of specks upon or in, especially specks regarded as defects or blemishes; to spot; to speckle.
- noun The blubber of whales or other marine mammals; also, the fat of the hippopotamus.
- noun (Naut.) falls or ropes rove through blocks for hoisting the blubber and bone of whales on board a whaling vessel.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun countable A tiny
spot , especially ofdirt etc. - noun uncountable A
juniper -flavouredham originally fromTyrol . - noun A very small thing; a particle; a
whit . - noun A small
etheostomoid fish (Ulocentra stigmaea) common in the easternUnited States . - verb transitive To mark with specks; to
speckle . - noun The
blubber ofwhales or othermarine mammals . - noun The
fat of thehippopotamus .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a slight but appreciable amount
- noun (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything
- verb produce specks in or on
- noun a very small spot
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Yes | No | Report from mlutz95 wrote 43 weeks 4 days ago ocean kayaks make great kayaks. the model "speck" is what we have.
I'm looking into buying a sit-on-top kayak for coastal fishing, and hoping to spend around $500. 2009
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Yes | No | Report from mlutz95 wrote 43 weeks 4 days ago ocean kayaks make great kayaks. the model "speck" is what we have.
I'm looking into buying a sit-on-top kayak for coastal fishing, and hoping to spend around $500. 2009
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A fluttering gray speck is all that will be left of me.
Countdown Matt Kang 2010
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The flower on which this speck is situated is however stolen and carried away by the black-bottomed eagle named Vlad Vlad-i-koff.
Do Foxes Even Like Roger Sutton 2006
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a "speck" (an interesting word: a speck is sometimes thought of as a minute mark, almost too small to see, or as a speck that is in the eye, on the retina itself): a glittering pane of glass.
The Ordinary Sky: Wordsworth, Blanchot, and the Writing of Disaster 2008
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a little brown speck is pointed out as the Convent of the Pulley.
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DORNIN: Witnesses to the first shooting say the speck is a white man, balding in his 40s driving a tan F-140 pickup.
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Im sure they just came to this country because they dont speck a word of english.
Think Progress » New York Post Compares Robert Greenwald to Nazi Propagandist 2005
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Hedrock knew that the speck was a magnified version of the reality, which was too small to make out with the naked eye.
The Weapon Shops of Isher Van Vogt, A. E. 1951
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_ -- At daybreak a speck was seen in the horizon; now it is visible above the hollow wave, now curtained from our sight by the swelling billow: we approach nearer; the speck divides, and two spots appear; they are Calypso's Isles, --
Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833 John Auldjo
dontcry commented on the word speck
A type of ham that is juniper flavored. It is salt cured and smoked.
January 29, 2009
yarb commented on the word speck
I eat speck quite often but I've never noticed the juniper flavour, just a lot of smokiness. I'll pay more attention next time.
January 29, 2009
Prolagus commented on the word speck
Have you seen her dressed in blue?
See the sky in front of you
And her face is like a sail
Speck of white so fair and pale
Have you seen a lady fairer?
(She's a rainbow, by The Rolling Stones)
April 19, 2009
hernesheir commented on the word speck
The fat meat of the hippopotamus.
December 7, 2011