▪ I. † flecked, a. Her. Obs.
[? Misspelling of flect.]
Arched, bent.
| 1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry i. ii. 13 The Flecked, The Nubile, are of the nature of the Air. 1678–1706 Phillips, Flecked, a term in Heraldry, arched like the Firmament. |
| fig. 1661 Morgan Sph. Gentry i. vii. 101 Devide not thy Coat among the deadly sins by..the Flecked and Waved line of pride. |
▪ II. flecked, ppl. a.
(flɛkt)
[f. fleck n.1 or v.1 + -ed1 or -ed2.]
Having or marked with flecks; occas. preceded by some defining word as foam-, pearl-flecked, for which see those words.
1. Of animals, their feathers, skins, etc.: Dappled, pied, spotted.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xi. 321 Foules, With flekked fetheres. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 604 He was..ful of Iargon, as a flekked pye. 1548 Will of R. North or Keling (Somerset Ho.), Flecked cowe. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 403 They [sheep] will proue flecked and of diuers colours. 1786 Culley Live Stock (ed. 4) 41 The generality are red and white mixed or what the breeders call flecked. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Flecked, spotted, mottled, speckled. |
b. Of a person: Marked with spots; freckled.
| 1868 Geo. Eliot Sp. Gipsy 54 Pep{iacu}ta, fair yet flecked. |
† c. Of wood-work: Grained; marked. Obs.
| 1664 Evelyn Sylva viii. 27 The firme and close Timber..[of the Wall-nut tree] is admirable for fleck'd and chambletted works. 1670 Ibid. xxvii. (ed. 2) 134 Curiously polish'd and fleck'd cups and boxes. |
† 2. Of persons, their faces or cheeks: Marked with patches of red; flushed. Obs.
| 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1560) U vj, The face red in coloure & flecked. a 1577 Gascoigne Herbs Wks. (1587) 103 His flecked cheekes Now chery red, now pale and green as leekes. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. ii. v. i. vi. (1651) 396 If they drink a cup of wine or strong drink, they are as red and flect..as if they had been at a Majors feast. 1693 Congreve Juvenal xi. 317 What tho thy Wife..come reeking home, Fleck'd in her Face, and with disorder'd Hair. |
3. Of darkness: Dappled with bright spots. Of the sky: Dappled with clouds. Of clouds: Cast like flecks over the sky; in quot. fig.
| 1597 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iii. 3 (Qo. 1) Flecked darkenes like a drunkard reeles, From forth daies path. a 1649 Drummond of Hawthornden Hist. Jas. V Wks. (1711) 106 Many were groping through these flecked clouds of ignorance. 1810 Scott Lady of L. iii. ii, Invisible in flecked sky, The lark sent down her revelry. 1866 T. Edmondston Shetl. & Ork. Dial., Flecked, applied to the bottom of the sea when it has bunches of seaweed growing upon it. |