Hypertext Webster Gateway: "specimen"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Specimen \Spec"i*men\, n. [L., fr. specere to look, to behold.
See {Spy}.]
A part, or small portion, of anything, or one of a number of
things, intended to exhibit the kind and quality of the
whole, or of what is not exhibited; a sample; as, a specimen
of a man's handwriting; a specimen of painting; aspecimen of
one's art.
Syn: Sample; model; pattern.
Usage: {Specimen}, {Sample}. A specimen is a representative
of the class of things to which it belongs; as, a
specimen of photography. A sample is a part of the
thing itself, designed to show the quality of the
whole; as, a sample of sugar or of broadcloth. A
cabinet of minerals consists of specimens; if a part
be broken off from any one of these, it is a sample of
the mineral to which it belongs. ``Several persons
have exhibited specimens of this art before multitudes
of beholders.'' --Addison. ``I design this but for a
sample of what I hope more fully to discuss.''
--Woodward.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
specimen
n 1: an example regarded as typical of its class
2: a bit of tissue or blood or urine that is taken for
diagnostic purposes; "they collected a urine specimen for
urinalysis"
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