Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Speculum

Spec′u·lum (·lŭm), n.; pl. L. Specula (#), E. Speculum (#). [L., fr. specere to look, behold. See Spy.] 1. A mirror, or looking-glass; especially, a metal mirror, as in Greek and Roman archæology.

2. A reflector of polished metal, especially one used in reflecting telescopes. See Speculum metal, below.

3. (Surg.) An instrument for dilating certain passages of the body, and throwing light within them, thus facilitating examination or surgical operations.

4. (Zoöl.) A bright and lustrous patch of color found on the wings of ducks and some other birds. It is usually situated on the distal portions of the secondary quills, and is much more brilliant in the adult male than in the female.

Speculum metal, a hard, brittle alloy used for making the reflectors of telescopes and other instruments, usually consisting of copper and tin in various proportions, one of the best being that in which there are 126.4 parts of copper to 58.9 parts of tin, with sometimes a small proportion of arsenic, antimony, or zinc added to improve the whiteness.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.