sb. Also 7–8 specter. [a. F. spectre (16th cent., = It. spettro, Sp. and Pg. espectro), or ad. L. spectrum, f. specĕre to look, see.]
1. An apparition, phantom, or ghost, esp. one of a terrifying nature or aspect.
1605. Z. Jones (title), A Treatise of Specters or straunge Sights, Visions and Apparitions appearing sensibly vnto men.
1641. Lords Spiritual, 15. Thus this great Goliah being handled, appeareth … rather a ghost and specter, then a body.
1703. Pope, Thebais, 133. Swift as she pass’d, the flitting ghosts withdrew, And the pale spectres trembled at her view.
1744. Harris, Three Treat., Wks. (1841), 40. The superstitious have not a more previous tendency to be frightened at the sight of spectres,… than [etc.].
1813. Scott, Trierm., II. Interlude i. How should I, so humbly born, Endure the graceful spectre’s scorn?
1862. J. Cunningham, in Macm. Mag., April, 506–7. The simple, but undoubted, explanation of spectres is that they are our own thoughts—and nothing more.
1871. Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, 37. A terror … As when a sudden spectre at mid-day Meets us.
b. fig. An unreal object of thought; a phantasm of the brain.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), I. 53. When the mind is taken up in vision, and fixes its view either on any real object, or mere specter of divinity.
c. fig. An object or source of dread or terror, imagined as an apparition.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), II. 206. It [death] is a spectre which frights us at a distance.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. I. iv. That same cloud-capt, fire-breathing Spectre of Democracy.
1856. Kingsley, Lett. (1878), I. 500. The glaring eye of the dark spectre of bereavement.
1893. Black & White, 29 July, 122/2. The Channel Tunnel spectre is laid.
d. transf. One whose appearance is suggestive of an apparition or ghost.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag. (1824), 352. [She is] a mere household spectre, neither giving nor receiving enjoyment.
1825. J. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, I. 362. A creature like you—a spectre—… to talk about seeking your fortune!
1891. Marie A. Brown, trans. Runeberg’s Nadeschda, 50. Ever since a spectre From place to place he wanders.
e. A faint shadow or imitation of something.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xxiv. With the strangest spectre of a laugh.
2. One of the images or semblances supposed by the Epicurean school to emanate from corporeal things.
1785. Reid, Intell. Powers, 26. The spectres of Epicurus were composed of a very subtle matter.
1834. Southey, Doctor, v. 11. The old atomists supposed that the likenesses or spectres of corporeal things … assail the soul when she ought to be at rest.
3. An image or phantom produced by reflection or other natural cause.
1801. Encycl. Brit., Suppl. II. 514/2. Spectre of the Broken, a curious phenomenon observed on the summit of the Broken.
1832. Brewster, Natural Magic, vi. 148. It is only within the last forty years that science has brought these atmospherical spectres within the circle of her dominion.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. ii. 22. Before each of us … stood a spectral image of a man…. We stretched forth our arms; the spectres did the same.
1908. [Miss Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 299. I must look again for this aerial and charming spectre.
4. Zool. One or other of the insects or animals distinguished by the epithet spectre- (see 7), esp. an insect of the family Phasmidae.
1797. Trans. Linn. Soc., IV. 190. This singular animal [sc. Phasma dilatatum] … belongs to that tribe of insects which Stoll has called by the title of Spectres.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., iii. (1818), I. 67, note. Orthoptera consisting of Cockroaches, Locusts,… Spectres, Mantes, &c. Ibid. (1816), xxiii. (1818), II. 328. The spectres … are distinguished by tarsi of five joints.
1880. Encycl. Brit., XIII. 152/2. Phasmidæ (Spectres, or Walking-Sticks).
5. A horrid spectacle or sight. Obs.–1
a. 1763. Shenstone, Elegies, xxii. 68. To see my limbs … gash’d beneath the daring steel, To crowds a spectre, and to dogs a prey!
6. a. attrib. (chiefly in sense 1), as spectre-bark, -chimera, -doubt, -fashion, -horse, etc.
1817. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., III. xiii. Off shot the *spectre-bark.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., III. VI. i. Through some section of History, Nineteen *spectre-chimeras shall flit,… till Oblivion swallow them.
1799. Campbell, Pleas. Hope, II. 263. Ye *spectre-doubts, that roll Cimmerian darkness on the parting soul!
1822. Scott, Nigel, x. It were a shame to my household, thou shouldst glide out into the Strand after such a *spectre-fashion.
? 186[?]. B. Harte, Friar Pedro’s Ride, in Fiddletown, etc. (1873), 112. A phantom friar, *on a spectre horse.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, VI. xxvi. Like him … Who spoke the *spectre-hound in Man.
c. 1820. S. Rogers, Italy (1839), 118. He had so oft beheld … The *spectre-knight.
1825. J. Wilson, Poems, II. 305. While stern beneath the chancel high, My country’s *spectre monarch stood.
1777. Warton, Poems, 61. We bid those *spectre-shapes avaunt.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., III. xiv. Off darts the *Spectre-ship.
1807. Byron, Childish Recoll., 7. What grisly forms, the *spectre-train of woe, Bid shuddening Nature shrink beneath the blow.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., xxi. (1818), II. 220. The *Spectre tribe … go still further in this mimicry.
1817. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., III. x. marg. note. The *Spectre-Woman and her Death-mate.
b. Comb., chiefly in similative adjs., as spectre-lean, -like (also adv.), -looking, -pallid, -staring, -thin; also spectre-haunted, -mongering (adjs.), -queller.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. viii. At worst as a *spectre-fighting Man, nay who will one day be a Spectre-queller.
1718. Rowe, trans. Lucan, 303. No Swain thy *Spectre-haunted Plain shou’d know.
1873. E. Brennan, Witch of Nemi, etc. 78. That dark land and spectre-haunted grove.
1887. Meredith, Ballads & P., 85. He came out of miracle cloud, Lightning-swift and *spectre-lean.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 258. Not making quite so staring a *Spectre-like Figure as I did.
1834. Tait’s Mag., I. 726/1. Spectre-like they stray, And soon their steps in distance die away.
1884. J. Colborne, Hicks Pasha, 41. The camels glided noiselessly and spectre-like over the track.
1849–50. Alison, Hist. Europe, VIII. lv. § 24. 580. With a few thousand miserable and *spectre-looking followers.
1809. Byron, Bards & Rev., 919. Let *spectre-mongering Lewis aim … To rouse the galleries.
1844. Hood, Haunted House, III. ix. But from their tarnish’d frames dark Figures gaz’d, And Faces *spectre-pallid.
1831. *Spectre-queller [see spectre-fighting above].
1826. Milman, A. Boleyn, 72.
| Thy tossing, feverish, *spectre-staring midnights, | |
| Would seem remission, peace, delight to years | |
| Interminable—— |
1820. Keats, Ode to Nightingale, 26. Where youth grows pale, and *spectre-thin, and dies.
7. Special combs.: spectre-bat, a tropical species of bat (Vespertilio or Phyllostoma spectrum); spectre-candle (see quot.); spectre-crab, a glass-crab (Cent. Dict.); spectre insect, an insect of the genus Phasma (see 4); spectre-lemur, = spectre tarsier; spectre-mantis, = spectre insect; spectre-shell (see quot.); spectre-shrimp, a slender-bodied amphipod of the genus Caprella; spectre tarsier, a small lemuroid animal (Tarsius spectrum).
1781. Pennant, Hist. Quadrup., II. 552. *Spectre Bat…. Inhabits South America.
1827. Griffith, trans. Cuvier, V. 71. Phyllostoma Spectrum (Spectre or true Vampyre Bat).
1835. Penny Cycl., IV. 172/2. Belemnite, Thunderstone, or Arrowhead… we … find the term Devil’s fingers bestowed on them, and not unfrequently that of *spectre-candles.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 90. The largest egg known … is that of a *spectre insect (Phasma dilatatum), figured in the Linnean Transactions.
1886. Geikie, Class-bk. Geol., 359. Spectre-insects (Phasmidæ) … have been detected chiefly among the shales and coals of the Coal-measures.
1882. *Spectre-lemur [see TARSIER].
1840. F. D. Bennett, Whaling Voy., I. 343. The insects we found here were the *spectre-mantis; a purple butterfly [etc.].
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., Concha spectrorum, the *spectre shell, a name given by authors to a species of voluta, from some odd figures described on its surface [etc.].
1882. Cassell’s Nat. Hist., VI. 212. The popular name of *Spectre, or Skeleton Shrimp, seems very appropriate. Ibid. (1871), I. 250. The *Spectre Tarsier, which inhabits the Oriental Archipelago and the Philippine Islands.
Hence Spectre v. trans., to fill with spectres; Spectredom, the realm or region of spectres.
1849. Aytoun, Old Camp, ii. It hath a look that makes me old, and spectres time again.
1883. J. S. Stallybrass, trans. Grimm’s Teutonic Myth., III. 929–30. Part and parcel of this heathenish spectredom.
1897. Daily Tel., 20 July, 7/3. The tyranny of the manager of spectredom.
