| 释义 |
▪ I. speck, n.1|spɛk|
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 n.]
1. a. A small spot of a different colour or substance to that of the material or surface upon which it appears; a minute mark or discoloration. Occas. const. of (cf. 2).
c725Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) N 160 Notae, speccan. c1000Sax. 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. 1398Trevisa 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. 1530Palsgr. 274/1 Specke, marke, marcque. 1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Peca, a specke, a spot in the face, macula, næuus. 1611Cotgr., Tacheture, a spot, specke, or speckle. 1671Grew Anat. Pl. i. (1684) 5 Divers small Specks, of a different colour from that of the Parenchyma,..may be observ'd. 1727Gay Fables, Peacock, Turkey & Goose 2 In beauty faults conspicuous grow, The smallest speck is seen on snow. 1787–9Wordsw. Ev. Walk 356 But now the clear bright Moon her zenith gains, And, rimy without speck, extend the plains. 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 745 Give the little speck of light reflected from the pupil of the eye, with pure white. 1868Freeman Norm. Conq. (1877) II. vii. 34 Such faults seemed little more than a few specks on a burnished mirror.
b. With adjs. of colour, etc.
c1050in Wr.-Wülcker 446 Maculam pullam, þone sweartan speccan. 1567J. Maplet Gr. Forest 7 Bespotted with Purple speckes and bloud coloured vaines. 1608Willet Hexapla Exod. 641 The saphir..shineth with golden speckes in it. 1663Boyle Usef. Exp. Nat. Philos. i. iii. 54 The cicatricula or little whitish speck discernable in the coat of the eggs yolk. 1687A. Lovell tr. Thevenot's Trav. i. 239 The Skin of it is all spotted black and white, with some yellowish specks. a1701Maundrell Journ. Jerus., River Euphr. (1749) 158 Stone very much resembling Porphyry, being of red ground, with yellow specks and veins, very glossy. 1796Stedman Surinam (1813) II. xxviii. 348 The timber brown, variegated or powdered with white specks. 1818–20E. Thompson tr. Cullen's Nosologia 325 An efflorescence consisting of small, distinct, purple specks and patches. 1877Huxley & 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.1822Lamb 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.)
1656Cowley 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! 1815J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 723 What the eye sees distinctly at once, is comparatively but a speck in the vast scene. 1819Byron Juan ii. xiii, The town became a speck, From which away so fair and fast they bore. 1868Lockyer 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.
1726–46Thomson Summer 987 Amid the heavens, Falsely serene, deep in a cloudy speck. 1831D. E. Williams Life & Corr. Sir T. Lawrence II. 73 The speck destined to be the tempest of future life. a1832Mackintosh Revol. 1688 Wks. 1846 II. 230 Not a speck in the heavens seemed to the common eye to forebode a storm. 1878Stubbs Const. Hist. III. xviii. 211 The solitary speck that clouded the future of the dynasty.
2. a. A small or minute particle of something.
a1400–50Alexander 743 Als sprent of my spittyng a specke on þi chere, Þou sall be diȝt to þe deth. 1587D. Fenner Song of Songs i. 10 With speckes of siluer very fine they set about shalbe. 1664Power Exp. Philos. i. 23 The Gloworm... Her eyes are two small black points or specks of jett. 1839H. T. De la Beche Rep. Geol. Cornwall, etc. xi. 327 These bunches frequently containing strings and specks of ore. 1860Tyndall Glac. ii. xxi. 342 We watch the ice..and find that every speck of dirt upon it retains its position. 1879G. C. Harlan Eyesight v. 52 Specks of iron and steel, how⁓ever, may often be removed..by the use of a strong magnet.
fig.1713Young Last Day iii. 251 Call back thy thunders, Lord,..Nor with a speck of wretchedness engage. 1757E. Griffith Lett. Henry & Frances (1767) III. 252 A man of Sense, and Taste, and Virtue,..who magnifies her every Speck of Merit! 1865Dickens Mut. Fr. i. iii, The only speck of interest that presents itself to my..view.
b. Without const. Also fig.
1601Holland Pliny I. 310 In these so little bodies (nay pricks and specks rather than bodies indeed). 1712Blackmore Creation vi. 282 Each vital Speck, in which remains Th' entire, but rumpled Animal. 1748Anson's Voy. ii. vii. 214 Here we struck ground.., and found the bottom to consist of grey sand, with black specks. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiv. (1856) 298 An almost constant deposition of crystalline specks, which covered our decks with a sort of hoar-frost. 1855J. Phillips Man. Geol. 201 Coarse sandstone with carbonaceous specks. a1862Buckle Misc. Wks. (1872) I. 18 What we have done is but a speck compared to what remains to be done. 1883S. 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. Also the Speck (Austral. colloq.), Tasmania.
1538Leland Itin. (1769) VII. 31 The hole Foreste of Maxwel except it be a smaul Spek is yn Chestre. 1796Stedman 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. 1800Coleridge Piccolom. i. x, Yield them up that dot, that speck of land. 1930Bulletin (Sydney) 11 June 21 N.S.W., V., Q., S.A., W.A. and the Speck. 1949Geogr. Mag. Feb. 373 Tassie and The Speck, meaning Tasmania. 1963Times 12 Mar. (Austral. Suppl.) p. v/4 Tasmania—affectionately known as ‘the speck’.
d. not..a speck, not at all. U.S.
1843Haliburton S. Slick in Eng. I. ii. 31, I doubled up my fist, for I didn't like it [the treatment] a spec. 1936M. Mitchell Gone with Wind xl. 719 You're smart enough about dollars and cents... But you..aren't a speck smart about folks.
3. a. A small spot as indicative of a defective, diseased, or faulty condition; a blot, blemish, or defect.
1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 636 The best [glass] is that which is..free of blemishes, as blisters, specks, streaks, &c. 1859Tennyson Merlin & V. 393 The..little pitted speck in garner'd fruit, That rotting inward slowly moulders all. 1909Cent. Dict. Suppl. s.v., White speck of tobacco, a disease..caused by the fungus Macrosporium tabacinum.
transf. and fig.c1785Courtenay 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. 1815Mackintosh Speech Wks. 1846 III. 317 What is destroyed by the slightest speck of corruption [etc.]. 1825Scott Talism. xvii, Can all the pearls of the East atone for a speck upon England's honour? 1878Browning Poets Croisic 36 Not a dint Nor speck had damaged ‘Ode to Araminte’.
b. slang. (See quots. 1851.)
1851Mayhew Lond. Lab. 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’. 1897Daily News 9 Sept. 3/7 He heard children asking for ‘farthingsworths of specks’ at defendant's stall.
4. In moth-names (see quots.).
1832J. Rennie Consp. Butterfl. & M. 89 The White Speck (Leucania unipuncta..);..a minute white dot at the base of the hinder stigma. Ibid. 135 The Tawny Speck (Eupithecia subfulvata..) appears the beginning of August.
5. Comb., as speck-like adj.
1917J. Masefield Lollingdon Downs 56 No spark of him is specklike in his glass. 1965E. Bishop Questions of Travel i. 11 A specklike girl and boy, Alone, but near a specklike house.
▪ II. speck, n.2 north. dial.
Forms: 5 spekk(e, speke, 6 specc-, 6–8 specke, 7– speck.
[Of obscure origin: a common later form is spetch.]
1. A patch or piece of leather used in the making or mending of boots or shoes. † Also, a patch of cloth or other material.
c1440Promp. Parv. 468/1 Spekke, clowte, pictacium. 1483Cath. Angl. 353/1 A Spekk (Speke A.), presegmen. 1570Levins Manip. 47 A specke, cento. 1609Bible (Douay) Josh. ix. 5 And shoes very old which for shew of oldenesse were clouted with speckes. 1664Spelman's Gloss., Pictatium,..Anglicè a scraw, or a speck, or the clout of a shoe. 17..Robin Hood rescuing three Squires in Child Ball. III. 179 Robin did on the old mans cloake, And it was torne in the necke; ‘Now, by my faith,’ said William Scarlett, ‘Heere shold be set a specke’. 1788W. H. Marshall Yorksh. II. 354 Speck, the heel-piece of a shoe. a1825Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Speck, the sole of a shoe. 1876Robinson Whitby Gloss., Speck, the piece put on to the heel or toe of a shoe.
†2. A piece, strip, or trimming of undressed hide used in making size. Obs.
1496–7Durh. Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 250 Et sol. eidem pro le spekkes et dealbacione aule, xviij d. 1531Durham Househ. Bk. (Surtees) 69 Empcio le Whyteledre... Et in mundacione 3 pellium equorum soluti Johanni Grynvill, 2s. Et eidem pro 3 speccis, 6d. Ibid. 84 Et in speccis emptis pro camera de Meryngton, 4d. 1611Churchw. Acc. Pittington (Surtees) 161 Paide for fower bushels of speckes to the same [lime], xx d.
†3. (See quots.) Obs. rare.
1684Yorks. Dial. 39 Thy Father and Hobb, mun gang to th' Smiddy, And fetch the Specks, Sock and Cowlter hither. Ibid. Clavis, Specks, are long thin pieces of Iron which Husband-men nail upon their Ploughs, to save them from wearing.
▪ III. speck, n.3 E. Angl. dial.
[ad. OF. espec or especque (mod.Norm. épec, Picard épêque, F. épeiche), ad. MHG. speck, spech, var. of specht speight.]
A woodpecker.
15..Parl. Byrdes in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 176 Than in his hole sayd the Specke [v.r. Woodspecke], I woulde the hauke brake his necke. [1847Halliwell, Woodspack, a wood⁓pecker.] 1855Norfolk Wds. in Trans. Philol. Soc. 37 Specke.—Woodpecker.
▪ IV. speck, n.4 Now U.S. and S. Afr.|spɛk|
Also 7 specke, 9 spec, spek.
[a. Du. spek († speck, MDu. spec) or G. speck (MHG. spec, OHG. spec, spech; MLG. speck, whence MSw. späk, Sw. späck, Da. spæk), related to OE. spic spick n.1]
1. a. Fat meat, esp. bacon or pork. b. The fat or blubber of a whale. c. The fat of a hippopotamus.
a.1633Heywood Eng. Trav. i. ii, Adue good Cheese and Oynons, stuffe thy guts With Specke and Barley-pudding for disgestion. 1809in Thornton Amer. Gloss. s.v., He goes out almost every week to eat speck with the country folks; thereby showing that a democratic governor is not to be choaked with fat pork. 1886Trans. Amer. Philol. Assoc. XVII. App. p. xii, ‘Speck’ is..the generic term applied [in Pennsylvania] to all kinds of fat meat.
b.1743Univ. Spectator 25 Sept. 3 About ten Days ago a large Whale run ashore at Whitehills near Banff, from which they have already taken 80 Barrels of Speck. 1825in Jamieson Suppl. 1856Kane Arct. Expl. I. ii. 23 The spec or blubber is purchased from the natives with the usual articles of exchange.
c.1863W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting iv. 110 Mothlow shot a sea-cow, and I went down..to bring up half a wagon⁓load of speck. 1864P. L. Sclater Guide Zool. Gard. 53 The layer of fat next the skin makes excellent bacon, technically denominated Hippopotamus speck at the Cape.
2. attrib. in the names of tackle or apparatus used in dealing with whale-speck, as speck-block, speck-fall, speck-purchase, speck-tackle, speck-trough (see quots.).
1820Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 299 The harpooners..divide the fat into oblong pieces or ‘slips’..; then affixing a ‘speck-tackle’ to each slip, progressively flay it off, as it is drawn upward. Ibid. 306 The ‘speck-trough’..consists of a kind of oblong box or chest, about twelve feet in length. 1846A. Young Naut. Dict. 121 The speck-falls, whereof there are two, for hoisting the blubber and bone off the whale, are ropes rove through two blocks made fast to the blubber-guy. Ibid. 290 Speck-block. 1874A. H. Markham Whaling Cruise to Baffin's B. 133 The fish is taken in, in four hoists, with the fore and main spek tackles.
▸ Cookery. A cured and smoked ham of the type produced in the Alto Adige region of Italy (formerly the southern part of the Austrian Tyrol).
1981N.Y. Times 6 Sept. x. 5/4 A specialty of the region is speck, a peasant bacon that is served with eggs or in big dumplings. 1987Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 8 Feb. vii. 1/1 At Pordoi Pass we broke lunch out of our packs—speck, a delicious native smoked ham like prosciutto, salami, Gorgonzola,..bread and orange juice. 1999BBC Good Food Apr. 79/2 (advt.) There's also a genuine Italian Parma Ham... Or try Speck, a lightly smoked dry-cured ham with spices. 2001Observer 6 May (Life Suppl.) 53/3 Sassu incorporates radicchio di Treviso into his repertoire, tossing it into a wild rocket salad with speck and scarmorza.
▪ V. speck, v.1|spɛk|
[f. speck n.1, or back-formation from specked ppl. a.]
1. a. trans. To mark with specks; to dot after the manner of specks.
1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Picoter, to peckle, to pricke thicke, to specke. 1611Cotgr., Maculer, to spot, blot; specke, speckle, bespatter. 1805Southey Madoc i. vi, A beautiful and populous plain it was;..And many a single dwelling specking it. 1835Willis Pencillings I. xii. 89 Only broken by a few prostrate figures, just specking its wide area. 1853Mrs. Gaskell Cranford i, Trim gardens..without a weed to speck them.
b. In passive: To be covered, marked, or diversified with (or by) specks or spots.
1667Milton P.L. ix. 429 Each Flour of slender stalk, whose head though gay Carnation, Purple, Azure, or spect with Gold, Hung drooping unsustained. 1678Lond. Gaz. No. 1337/4 A Little white lap Spaniel Dog,..his legs speckt with brown. a1732Gay Ep. xiii. Poems 1790 I. 217 When I some antique jar behold, Or white, or blue, or speck'd with gold. 1821Clare Vill. Minstr. (1823) I. 67 Pasture speck'd with sheep, and horse, and cow. 1845E. Warburton Crescent & Cross I. 339 The lake was soon specked by people swimming, or rowing themselves on logs of wood. 1870Rock Text. Fabr. i. 40 They are specked all over with quatrefoil spots.
2. intr. To move or fly like specks.
1821Clare Vill. Minstr. II. 197 The sweeping rack That specks like wool-flocks through the purple sky.
3. trans. To go over (a woven fabric) and remove specks or other blemishes.
1895in Funk's Standard Dict.
4. To convert into a mere speck.
1898Meredith Odes Fr. Hist. 90 Specked overhead, the imminent vulture wings At poise.
5. Austral. [Both this and sense 1 of specking vbl. n. may properly repr. abbrev. of speculate v.: cf. spec n.1]
a. intr. To search for small particles of gold or opal on the surface.
b. trans. To search the surface of (the ground) for traces of gold or opal; to discover (particles of gold, etc.) in this manner.
1888H. Lawson His Father's Mate in Stories (1964) I. 139 A pick and shovel, and a gold dish..with which he used to go ‘a-speckin'’ and ‘fossickin'’ amongst the old mullock heaps. 1903R. Bedford True Eyes lviii. 305 With little cries of delight he ‘specked’ a four-ounce slug of the red gold. Ibid. lx. 315 They had sieved and dry⁓blown and ‘specked’ the little tongue of auriferous soil. 1926Spectator 14 Aug. 240/2 Went ‘specking’ in nearby creeks. Got colours of gold but no nuggets. 1936I. L. Idriess Cattle King xxiv. 211 Next morning they picked up gold. In trembling excitement they ‘specked’ piece after piece. 1969E. Waller And there's Opal out There 116 A couple of tourists specking for bits of potch and opal.
▪ VI. speck, v.2 north. dial.
[f. speck n.2]
trans. To patch or mend (shoes) with ‘specks’.
1681in Magrath Flemings in Oxf. (O.H.S.) II. App. M. 313 Paid unto Jo. Thompson of Hawkeshead shoemaker for soaling and Specking of Georges, Michaels, Richards & Rogers shoes, 2s. 1876in Robinson Whitby Gloss. 1898in Kirkby Lakel. Wds. |