flyspeck

plural flyspecks

1. Housefly excrement, visible as a minuscule black dot.

   The wall of the kitchen above the fruitbowl was dotted with flyspeck.

2. broadlyAnything tiny or insignificant.

   We passed through some flyspeck town, barely more than a gas station and a stoplight, but I never saw the name.

   1 more example

   From the foothills below, Jean, Jan, and James were mere flyspecks, easily lost among the straggly pines that formed the treeline.

   Synonyms: atom, whiff, ace, atom, thought, atomy, aught, bissel

present singular third person flyspecks · participle present flyspecking · participle past flyspecked · past flyspecked

1. To bespeckle with tiny spatters of color.

   To flyspeck, you need an old toothbrush, the paint color of your choice, glazing medium, a palette knife, and a mixing surface such as a palette or plastic container.

   2008, Priscilla Hauser, Priscilla Hauser's Book of Painting Patterns, →ISBN, page 15

2. To inspect in minute detail to ensure that something contains no flaws; nitpick.

   1 more example

   Your criticism will seem like flyspecking. They'll be mad at you for pointing out that there's more crime than they like to think, and especially mad that you're saying their own group—privileged middle-aged white males—are just as bad as young African-American inner-city toughs, walking the streets in packs of four and looking mean.

   1996, Richard Delgado, The Rodrigo Chronicles: Conversations About America and Race, →ISBN