Specimen

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Specimen \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 a person's blood; a


     specimen of painting; aspecimen of one's art.
     [1913 Webster +PJC]
  
     Syn: Sample; model; pattern.
  
     Usage: {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.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  specimen
       n 1: an example regarded as typical of its class
       2: a bit of tissue or blood or urine that is taken for
          diagnostic purposes; "they collected a urine specimen for
          urinalysis"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  27 Moby Thesaurus words for "specimen":
     case, case history, case in point, cross section, embodiment,
     example, exemplar, exponent, illustration, instance, little bite,
     little smack, model, pattern, piece, representation,
     representative, sample, sampling, sort, species, swatch, taste,
     taster, type, typification, variety
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  SPECIMEN. A sample; a part of something by which the other may be known. 
       2. The act of congress of July 4, 1836, section 6, requires the 
  inventor or discoverer of an invention or discovery to accompany his 
  petition and specification for a patent with specimens of ingredients, an of 
  the composition of matter, sufficient in quantity for the purpose of 
  experiment, where the invention or discovery is of the composition of 
  matter.