Speck, n.
Etymology: [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. (Zoöl.)
A small etheostomoid fish (Ulocentra stigmæa) common in the Eastern United States.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Speck, n.
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.
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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for speck; he lists it under blemish.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.