2. The designation of particulars; particular mention; as, the
specification of a charge against an officer.
3. A written statement containing a minute description or enumeration
of particulars, as of charges against a public officer, the terms of a
contract, the description of an invention, as in a patent; also, a
single article, item, or particular, an allegation of a specific act,
as in a charge of official misconduct.
Spe*cif"ic*ness (?), n. The quality or state of being specific.
Spec"i*fy (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Specified (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Specifying (?).] [F. spécifier, or OF. especifier, fr. LL. specificare.
See Species, -fy.] To mention or name, as a particular thing; to
designate in words so as to distinguish from other things; as, to
specify the uses of a plant; to specify articles purchased.
He has there given us an exact geography of Greece, where the
countries and the uses of their soils are specified.
Pope.
||Spe*cil"lum (?), n. [L.] (Med.) See Stylet, 2.
Spec"i*men (?), n. [L., fr. specere to look, to behold. See Spy.] A
part, or small portion, of anything, or one of a number of things,
intended to exhibit the kind and quality of the whole, or of what is
not exhibited; a sample; as, a specimen of a man's handwriting; a
specimen of painting; aspecimen of one's art.
Syn. -- Sample; model; pattern. -- Specimen, Sample. A specimen is a
representative of the class of things to which it belongs; as, a
specimen of photography. A sample is a part of the thing itself,
designed to show the quality of the whole; as, a sample of sugar or of
broadcloth. A cabinet of minerals consists of specimens; if a part be
broken off from any one of these, it is a sample of the mineral to
which it belongs. "Several persons have exhibited specimens of this art
before multitudes of beholders." Addison. "I design this but for a
sample of what I hope more fully to discuss." Woodward.
Spe`ci*os"i*ty (?), n.; pl. Speciocities (#). [Cf. LL. speciositas.] 1.
The quality or state of being specious; speciousness.
Professions built so largely on speciosity, instead of performance.
Carlyle.