■S P E 
The ghosts of traitors from the bridge descend, 
With bold fanatic spectres to rejoice. Dry den. 
Something made preternaturally visible. 
SPE'CTRUM, s. [Lat.] An image ; a visible form.— 
This prism had some veins running along within the glass, 
from the one end to the other, which scattered some of the 
sun’s light irregularly, but had no sensible effect in increas¬ 
ing the length of the coloured spectrum. Newton. 
SPE'CULAR, adj. [specularis, Lat.] Having the qua¬ 
lities of a mirror or looking-glass. 
It were but madness now t’ impart 
The skill of specular stone. Donne. 
Assisting sight. Speculaire, “ clear, transparent; also, 
helping the sight." Cotgrave. 
The hidden way 
Of nature would’st thou know, how first she frames 
All things in miniature ? thy specular orb 
Apply to well-dissected kernels; lo ! 
In each observe the slender threads 
Of first-beginning trees. Philips. 
Affording view. See the first sense of Speculation-. 
—Look once more, ere we leave this specular mount. 
Milton. 
SPECULARIA, among the Romans, a kind of window 
casements, which were used before glass was introduced for 
this purpose. They consisted of transparent stones, called 
lapides speculares. 
To SPE'CULATE, v. n. [ specular , Fr., speculor, Lat.] 
To meditate; to contemplate; to take a view of any thing 
with the mind.—Consider the quantity, and not speculate 
upon an intrinsical relation. Digby. 
To SPE'CULATE, v. a. To consider attentively; to 
look through with the mind.—Man was not meant to gape, 
or look upward, but to have his thoughts sublime; and not 
only behold, but speculate their nature with the eye of the 
understanding. Brown. 
SPECULATION, s. [speculation , Fr., specula, Lat., 
a watch-tower.] Examination by the eye; view.—Here, as 
from a turret of speculation, you may look down upon the 
vulgar. Codrington. —Mental view ; intellectual examina¬ 
tion ; contemplation. 
Thenceforth to speculations high or deep, 
I turned my thoughts; and with capacious mind 
Consider’d all things visible. Milton. 
A train of thoughts formed by meditation.—From him 
Socrates derived the principles of morality, and most part of 
his natural speculations. Temple. —Mental scheme not 
seduced to practice.—This terrestial globe, which before 
was only round in speculation, has since been surrounded 
by the fortune and boldness of many navigators. Temple. 
—Power of sight. Not in use. 
Thy bones are marrowless; thy blood is cold; 
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes 
Thou star’st with. Skalcspeare: 
SPE'CULATIST, s. A speculator. Speculatist is per¬ 
haps the older word.—Let the profoundest speculatist, or 
curious practitioner, turn the edge of his wit which way he 
will to find some new thing; yet sure it is, the same things 
have been. Granger. 
SPECULATIVE, adj. [ spcculatif, Fr.] Given to spe¬ 
culation ; contemplative.—If all other uses were utterly taken 
away, yet the mind of man being by nature speculative, 
and delighted with contemplation in itself, they were to be 
known even for mere knowledge sake. Hooker. —Theore¬ 
tical : notional; ideal; not practical.—Some take it for a 
speculative platform, that reason and nature would that the 
best should govern, but no wise to create a right. Bacon. 
—Belonging to view.—My speculative instruments. Shak- 
speare Speculative glasses. Ilooke.— Prying.—Coun¬ 
sellors should not be too speculative into their sovereign’s 
person. Bacon. 
Vol. XXIII. No. 1583. 
S P E 461 
SPECULATIVELY, adv. Ideally; notionally; theore¬ 
tically; not practically.—It is possible that a man may, spe¬ 
culatively, prefer the constitution of another country, or an 
Utopian of his own, before that of the nation where he is 
born and lives. Swift. 
SPECULATIVENESS, s . The state of being specula¬ 
tive. Scott. 
SPECULATOR, s. One who forms theories.—He is 
dexterous in puzzling others, if they be not thorough-paced 
speculators in those great theories. More .—[ Speculateur, 
Fr.] An observer; a contemplator.—Although lapidaries 
and questuary enquirers affirm it, yet the writers of minerals, 
and natural speculators, conceive the stones which bear this 
name to be a mineral concretion. Brown. —A spy; a 
watcher.—All the boats had one speculator, to give notice 
when the fish approached. Broome. 
SPE'CULATORY, adj. Exercising speculation; calcu¬ 
lated for spying or viewing.—Both these were nothing more 
than speculatory out-posts to the Akeman-street. Warton. 
SPECULUM, s. [Lat.] A mirror; a looking-glass; 
that in which representations are formed by reflection.—A 
rough and coloured object may serve for a speculum, to 
reflect the artificial rainbow. Boyle. —An instrument in 
Surgery, used for inspection, as a speculum ani, vagince, 
&c. 
SPED. The preterite and part, passive of speed. —Bar- 
barossa, sped of that he desired, staid not long at Constan¬ 
tinople, but shaped his course towards Italy. Knolles. 
SPEECH, s. [fpsec, Sax., from To spcak~\ The power 
of articulate utterance; the power of expressing thoughts by 
vocal words.—Though our ideas are first acquired by vari¬ 
ous sensations and reflections, yet we convey them to each 
other by the means of certain sounds, or written marks, 
which we call words; and a great part of our knowledge is 
both obtained and communicated by these means, which are 
called speech. Watts. —Language; words considered as 
expressing thoughts.—In speech be eight parts. Accidence. 
The acts of God to human ears 
Cannot without process of speech be told. Milton. 
Particular language as distinct from others.—There is 
neither speech nor language but their voices are heard 
among them. Ps. Comm. Pr. —Any thing spoken. 
A plague upon your epileptic visage! 
Smile you my speeches as I were a fool. Shakspearc. 
Talk; mention. 
The duke did of me demand 
What was the speech among the Londoners, 
Concerning the French journey. Shakspeare. 
Speech of a man’s self ought to be seldom. Bacon. — 
Oration; harangue.—The constant design of these orators, 
in all their speeches, was to drive some one particular point. 
Swift. —Declaration of thoughts.—I with leave of speech 
implor’d, reply’d. Milton. 
To SPEECH, v. n. To harangue; to make a speech.— 
And were you supposed to have the tongues of angels and 
archangels to speech it in your behalf, their words would 
have no weight! Pyle. 
SPE'ECHLESS, adj. Deprived of the power of speak¬ 
ing; made mute or dumb— Speechless with wonder, and 
half dead with fear. Addison. —Mute; dumb. 
From her eyes 
I did receive fair speechless messages. Shakspearc. 
SPE'ECHLESSNESS, 5. State of being speechless.— 
Immediate preceding signs of death are great unquietness 
•—the memory confused, speechlessness, cold sweats. 
Bacon. 
To SPEED, v. n. pret. and part. pass, sped and speeded, 
[spoeden, Teut. spuden, Germ, to hasten; ypeb, Sax., ce¬ 
lerity, haste. Wachter derives the word from the Gr. 
antevlu, (speudo,) to hasten; Serenius from the Goth, spo, 
the same.] To make haste; to move with celerity. 
6 B 
So 
