specky

English

Pronunciation

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• Rhymes: -ɛki

Etymology 1

From speck +‎ -y.

Adjective

specky (comparative speckier, superlative speckiest)

1. Resembling a speck, minuscule.
   • 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.

   • 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.

   • 2008, Beth Kephart, House of Dance, page 77:

     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.

2. Marked with specks; speckled.
   • 1912, J. A. Stanley Adam, Bernard C. White, Parodies and Imitations Old and New, page 305:

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

   • 1918, The Southwestern Reporter, volume 201, page 585:

     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; […] .

   • 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.

Etymology 2

From spectacular + -y.

Adjective

specky (not comparable)

1. (informal) Spectacular.

Noun

specky (plural speckies)

1. (Australia, Australian rules football, informal) Synonym of spectacular mark
   • 2008, Beth Montgomery, Murderer′s Thumb, page 159:

     ‘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.

Etymology 3

From spectacles.

Noun

specky (plural speckies)

1. (informal) One who wears spectacles; often used attributively.
   • 1991, Punch, volume 300, page 205:

     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.

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

     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.

   • 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.’

   • 2011, Jim Cunningham, Starballs in Space, page 45:

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

   • 2013, Sandra Brown, Where There Is Evil, page 31:

     It isnae healthy a lassie reading all the time the way ye do. Ye'll end up wi' glasses, then a' the lads will ca'ye Specky – d'ye hear me? Ye'll wear yer eyes oot!

   • 2013, Carole Lloyd, Speccy Four Eyes‎^[1]: