<noun.attribute> the plane was just a speck in the sky
(nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything
<noun.substance>
a slight but appreciable amount
<noun.quantity> this dish could use a touch of garlic [ verb ]
produce specks in or on
<verb.contact> speck the cloth
Speck \Speck\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Specked}; p. pr. & vb. n. {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. --Milton.
Speck \Speck\, n. [Cf. Icel. spik blubber, AS. spic, D. spek, G. speck.] 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 \Speck\, n. [OE. spekke, AS. specca; cf. LG. spaak.] 1. 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.'' --Anson.
2. 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. --Landor.
3. (Zo["o]l.) A small etheostomoid fish ({Ulocentra stigm[ae]a}) common in the Eastern United States.
A tiny speck in the Mediterranean between Sicily and Libya, Malta is known if at all for its famous cross, the movie starring its falcon and Humphrey Bogart, and its heroic self-defense against Axis bombing.
A spare mast had been bolted to the keel to stiffen her. Rocks and bags of gravel and rocks served as ballast. The group's only reachable source of help, South Georgia, was a mere speck in the ocean, 800 miles distant.
She said of her slain husband: "He's not just a speck of dust anymore.
This tiny creature looks like a speck of dust and is only 0.5mm in size.
Lord Hanson does not like to see a speck of dandruff on the shoulders of his colleagues.
Hubble has a 94-inch mirror that is the finest ever made and even a speck of dust would impair its efficiency.
Just as I'm about to dig into a salad at the restaurant of a five-star hotel, I notice a tiny speck marching around a dab of yogurt-dill dressing.
When she and her navigator ran low on fuel about 100 miles before reaching a speck of land called Howland Island, they had clocked 22,000 miles.
And when the speck becomes a train, pulls into the station, and pulls out again, it goes without them: they remain on the platform, waiting for the next speck to appear. These people are train spotters.
And when the speck becomes a train, pulls into the station, and pulls out again, it goes without them: they remain on the platform, waiting for the next speck to appear. These people are train spotters.
One turn at a time you thread your way down, a tiny speck of humanity in an impossibly huge landscape. The scenery was so overwhelming that at one stage.
A speck on the world map _ tucked between France, West Germany and Belgium - the grand duchy has used its position on the crossroads of Europe's main cultures to maintain one of the highest standards of living in the world.
Four consecutive shots fired by one of his guests opened a pea-sized hole where the speck of a bullseye used to be.
However, in a field of economics in which the most basic of premises may be incorrect, how can a speck of dust be that important?
Trying to see a Jupiter-size planet orbiting a nearby star often has been compared to a person trying to see a speck of dust miles away when that speck is sitting next to a 1,000-watt light bulb.
Trying to see a Jupiter-size planet orbiting a nearby star often has been compared to a person trying to see a speck of dust miles away when that speck is sitting next to a 1,000-watt light bulb.