1. [n]  a very small spot; "the plane was just a speck in the sky"
2. [n]  (nontechnical usage) a tiny piece of anything
3. [n]  a slight but appreciable addition; "this dish could use a touch of garlic"
4. [v]  produce specks in or on

Speck
The sometimes bizarre, often beautiful obsessions of 25 artists, with 200 color plates.

more details ...

1. \Speck\, n. [Cf. Icel. spik blubber, AS. spic, D. spek, G.
   speck.]
   The blubber of whales or other marine mammals; also, the fat
   of the hippopotamus.
   {Speck falls} (Naut.), falls or ropes rove through blocks for
      hoisting the blubber and bone of whales on board a whaling
      vessel.
   

2. \Speck\, n. [OE. spekke, AS. specca; cf. LG. spaak.]
   1. A small discolored place in or on anything, or a small
      place of a color different from that of the main
      substance; a spot; a stain; a blemish; as, a speck on
      paper or loth; specks of decay in fruit. ``Gray sand, with
      black specks.'' --Anson.
   2. A very small thing; a particle; a mite; as, specks of
      dust; he has not a speck of money.
            Many bright specks bubble up along the blue Egean.
                                                  --Landor.
   3. (Zo["o]l.) A small etheostomoid fish ({Ulocentra
      stigm[ae]a}) common in the Eastern United States.
   

3. \Speck\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Specked}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Specking}.]
   To cause the presence of specks upon or in, especially specks
   regarded as defects or blemishes; to spot; to speckle; as,
   paper specked by impurities in the water used in its
   manufacture.
         Carnation, purple, azure, or specked with gold.
                                                  --Milton.