2  definitions  found 
 
  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  1.6  [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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