▪ I. † spece Obs.
Forms: 4–7 spece (5 speche), 4, 6 spiece, 7 speece.
[ad. OF. espece (mod.F. espèce) sort, kind, appearance, etc., ad. L. speciēs species. Cf. spice n.]
1. Appearance, form, likeness.
| a 1325 Prose Psalter xlix. 2 Fram þe sonne arisyng vn-to þe going a-doune, þe spece of his fairnes is of Syon. 1490 Caxton Eneydos xix. 70 The soule of my fader Anchisis..apyereth byfore me vndre the speche of a terryble ymage. |
2. a. A spice; an aromatic vegetable condiment. b. A medical substance; a drug.
| a 1300 Body & Soul in MS. Laud 108 fol. 200 Ȝwere ben þine cokes snelle, þat scholden gon greiþe þi mete With speces [written spetes] swete for to smelle? 1390 Gower Conf. II. 325 With diverse spieces The fleissh..Sche takth, and makth therof a sewe. 1561 Hollybush Hom. Apoth. 15 Nether let him eat any fishes nor speces. 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 177 Take..the speces of diamarg[ariton] frigid., camphor, of each 2 drachmes. |
3. A species, kind, sort, or variety.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 8319 Ȝyt ys þyr a specyal spece Þat doþ leccherye klymbe by a grece. 1357 Lay Folk's Catech. 527 (T.), Of this syn comes sum sere speces. 1390 Gower Conf. III. 114 As for wisdom, it is in Grece, Wher is apropred thilke spiece. 1422 tr. Secreta Secret., Priv. Priv. 219 More-ouer we sene that euery beest hath his propyr Sowle, and his Propyr body. Of thes Speces neuer faillyth. 1491 Caxton Vitas Patr. (W. de W. 1495) i. i. 3 b/2 Nytree, Whyche is a spece of Salte puryfycatyff. c 1530 L. Cox Rhet. (1899) 44 These thre laste be properly callid speces or kindes or oracions. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Shepherd iii. i, Tempest shall grow hoarse, Loud thunder dumb, and every speece of storm, Laid in the lap of listening nature, hush'd. 1647 M. Hudson Div. Right Govt. ii. ix. 137 Thus much briefly of the nature and spece's of Fundamentall Honour; the other spece of Honour opposite to this is Symbolicall. |
4. A part, portion, or share; a touch or trace.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 904 A bacheler..born y þe lond of Grece; Of þat blod he hadde a spece, ffor his ffader was Gregeys. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Mark ii. 23 Certain of Johns disciples..were attached with a spiece of humain enuie, for that [etc.]. |
▪ II. spece
obs. f. space n.1, speak n., speech n.