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SPECK
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I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A very small spot
Example:
the plane was just a speck in the sky
Synonyms:
pinpoint; speck
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("speck" is a kind of...):
dapple; fleck; maculation; patch; speckle; spot (a small contrasting part of something)
Derivation:
speck (produce specks in or on)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A slight but appreciable amount
Example:
this dish could use a touch of garlic
Synonyms:
hint; jot; mite; pinch; soupcon; speck; tinge; touch
Classified under:
Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure
Hypernyms ("speck" is a kind of...):
small indefinite amount; small indefinite quantity (an indefinite quantity that is below average size or magnitude)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speck"):
snuff (a pinch of smokeless tobacco inhaled at a single time)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything
Synonyms:
atom; corpuscle; molecule; mote; particle; speck
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("speck" is a kind of...):
material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speck"):
grain (a relatively small granular particle of a substance)
grinding (material resulting from the process of grinding)
chylomicron (a microscopic particle of triglycerides produced in the intestines during digestion; in the bloodstream they release their fatty acids into the blood)
flyspeck (a tiny dark speck made by the excrement of a fly)
identification particle (a tiny particle of material that can be added to a product to indicate the source of manufacture)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Produce specks in or on
Example:
speck the cloth
Classified under:
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging
Hypernyms (to "speck" is one way to...):
mark (make or leave a mark on)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s something
Derivation:
speck (a very small spot)
Context examples:
Not a speck on them.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
At about eleven o'clock, however, a few specks of small rain upon the windows caught Catherine's watchful eye, and Oh! dear, I do believe it will be wet, broke from her in a most desponding tone.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
Once, after the poor animals that conveyed me had with incredible toil gained the summit of a sloping ice mountain, and one, sinking under his fatigue, died, I viewed the expanse before me with anguish, when suddenly my eye caught a dark speck upon the dusky plain.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
It crushed them into the remotest recesses of their own minds, pressing out of them, like juices from the grape, all the false ardours and exaltations and undue self-values of the human soul, until they perceived themselves finite and small, specks and motes, moving with weak cunning and little wisdom amidst the play and inter-play of the great blind elements and forces.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Not a speck escaped Aunt March's eye, and all the furniture had claw legs and much carving, which was never dusted to suit.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The air seems full of specks, floating and circling in the draught from the window, and the lights burn blue and dim. What am I to do?
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
I saw you like a speck on a white track, lessening every moment.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
It is a very little world, a mote, a speck, and I marvel that men should dare to venture the sea on a contrivance so small and fragile.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
We brought the locker out, extinguished the candle, fastened the door on the outside, and left the old boat close shut up, a dark speck in the cloudy night.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Upon this conviction, she would not be surprised if even in Henry and Eleanor Tilney, some slight imperfection might hereafter appear; and upon this conviction she need not fear to acknowledge some actual specks in the character of their father, who, though cleared from the grossly injurious suspicions which she must ever blush to have entertained, she did believe, upon serious consideration, to be not perfectly amiable.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
