specky

comparative speckier · superlative speckiest

1. Resembling a speck, minuscule.

   1976, National Association of Dental Laboratories (U.S.), NADL Journal, Volume 23, page 99, Nor did anyone even remotely suspect that an atom was anything but an atom and therefore the very speckiest particle of matter in existence.

   2 more examples

   19thC, John Ruskin, in 1909, The Works of John Ruskin, Volume 37, page 116, Far mightier, he, than any planet ; burning with his own planetary host doubtless round him ; and, on some speckiest of the specks of them, evangelical persons thinking our sun was made for them.

   She said it in her up-and-lilting accent, looking at me steady as a nurse is steady, not the tiniest, speckiest dust of self-confidence lacking, even though she'd told me nothing new.

   2008, Beth Kephart, House of Dance, page 77

2. Marked with specks; speckled.

   The window panes grow speckier hour by hour, / The parlour dust is thickening inch by inch.

   1912, J. A. Stanley Adam, Bernard C. White, Parodies and Imitations Old and New, page 305

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   Plaintiff′s manager, Murphy, on October 31st answered, saying the samples received “are somewhat speckier than the paper we ordinarily run,” but that he did not think much of that would be found, or that defendant would have any trouble in marketing the paper;[…].

   1918, The Southwestern Reporter, volume 201, page 585

   1952, National Research Council of Canada Associate Committee on Grain Research, Collected Papers of the Associate Committee on Grain Research, Volume 8, page 413, […] macaroni from the larger size fractions was orange in color and somewhat speckier, while that from the smaller sizes was increasingly brownish and opaque.

1. informalnot comparableSpectacular.

plural speckies

1. AustraliainformalAustralian rules footballSynonym of spectacular mark.

   ‘Snake was just talking about you, said you take a mean specky,’ she said. Adam felt his face colour. His marking skills weren′t that great.

   2008, Beth Montgomery, Murderer′s Thumb, page 159

   Synonyms: spectacular mark

plural speckies

1. attributiveinformaloftenOne who wears spectacles.

   “Say something, you specky turd,” Krull screamed. The captain did not wear glasses so he idly wondered who the specky turd was.

   2011, Jim Cunningham, Starballs in Space, page 45

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   I am also honorary president of the SPFG (Society for People who are Famous for their Glasses). […] Our latest idea is 'outing' - putting up posters to force people to admit they're secret speckies. Our first target is the Queen, who only ever sneaks hers on to read the Opening of Parliament.

   1991, Punch, volume 300, page 205

   Still, there’s other fish. There's a stewardess I'd gie one tae, but Bladesey's on the outside and instead of getting a decko at her bum he's thumbing through the in-flight journal like the specky wee cunt that he is.

   1998, Irvine Welsh, “Our cover is blown”, in Filth, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 150

   During the long summer-evening games of football on the “rec”, a Specky always ended up being “selected” to play in goal where his glasses wouldn′t get knocked off and broken.

   2001, Fred Butler, Up the Snicket: Shoddy Town Tales, page 22

   2010, Dick Lynas, Pies Were for Thursdays, AuthorHouse UK, page 138, It was bad enough having to wear a satin suit for one day when I made my First Communion. There was no chance of me being seen in those NHS specs and accordingly being mocked as a ‘specky four eyes’ so I took every chance I could not to wear them.

   2011, John Sugden, Scum Airways: Inside Football′s Underground Economy, Mainstream eBooks, unnumbered page, Then turning to his mate next to me at the bar, he explains, ‘I only took his specks off because he was with his girlfriend. Then when he′s surrounded by security, he has another go, don′t he! Well, he′s just cost the speckies of the world thousands, cos next time a specky has a go I′ll smash his glasses all over his face.’