SPECK • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Speck

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noun

Speck n. The blubber of whales or other marine mammals; also, the fat of the hippopotamus.

Speck falls (Naut.), falls or ropes rove through blocks for hoisting the blubber and bone of whales on board a whaling vessel.

Speck n.

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; as, a speck on paper or loth; specks of decay in fruit. "Gray sand, with black specks."

A very small thing; a particle; a mite; as, specks of dust; he has not a speck of money. "Many bright specks bubble up along the blue Egean."

(Zool.) A small etheostomoid fish (Ulocentra stigmaea) common in the Eastern United States.

verb

Speck v. t. (past & past part. specked; pres. part. specking) To cause the presence of specks upon or in, especially specks regarded as defects or blemishes; to spot; to speckle; as, paper specked by impurities in the water used in its manufacture. "Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold."

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Etymology of 'Speck'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Speck" Quotes from Famous Books

... inverted tumbler, like a four-legged bug—and not a very large bug, either—was an incredible thing. A thing with a soft, furry coat such as no true insect possesses. A thing with tiny, canine jaws, from which hung a panting speck of a tongue like no ...

— The Raid on the Termites • Paul Ernst

... cod will eat much finer by having a little salt rubbed down the bone, and along the thick part, even if eaten the same day. Tie it up, put it on the fire in cold water sufficient to cover it, and throw a handful of salt into it. Great care must be taken to serve it up without the smallest speck of black, or scum. Garnish with plenty of double parsley, lemon, horse radish, and the milt, roe and liver, and fried smelts, if approved. If with smelts, no water must be suffered to hang about the fish, or the beauty and flavour of the smelts will be lost. ...

— The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, • Mary Eaton

... making his ascent on the back flank of this particular mountain. He could not see Boulder Lake from there. On the other hand, no creature at Boulder Lake should be able to see him. Only an exploring party which might otherwise sight Jill would be apt to detect him, a slowly moving speck against ...

— Operation Terror • William Fitzgerald Jenkins

... Borrow's eyes, which were as long-sighted as a gypsy's, perceived a white speck in a twisted old hawthorn bush some distance off. He stopped and said: "At first I thought that white speck in the bush was a piece of paper, but it's a magpie," next to the water- wagtail the gypsies' most famous bird. On going up to the bush they discovered a magpie ...

— The Romany Rye - A Sequel to 'Lavengro' • George Borrow

... she had represented that nothing was simpler than to put the girl in her charge. When Mrs. Mavis had replied that that was all very well but that she didn't know the lady, Mrs. Allen had declared that that didn't make a speck of difference, for Mrs. Nettlepoint was kind enough for anything. It was easy enough to know her, if that was all the trouble. All Mrs. Mavis would have to do would be to go up to her the next morning when she took her daughter to ...

— A London Life; The Patagonia; The Liar; Mrs. Temperly • Henry James

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