spicatum (spikatum)

[L., sc. opus, lit. spicate work': see spicate.] In anc. masonry, herring-bone work: so called from the resemblance of the position of the blocks of any two contiguous courses to that of the grains in an ear of wheat. = specie, Pg. especia , spice, especie , spe He hath spices of them all, not all. Shak ., Cor., iv. 7. 46. 4. A characteristic touch or taste; a modicum, smack, or flavoring, as of something piquant or exciting to the mind: as, a spice of roguery or of adventure. [In this sense now regarded as a figurative use of def. 5; compare sauce in a similar figurative use.] I think I may pronounce of them, as I heard good Senecio, with a spice of the wit of the last age, say, viz., "That a merry fellow is the saddest fellow in the world." Steele, Tatler, No. 45. The world loves a spice of wickedne . Long fellow , Hyper i on, i. 7. 5. A substance aromatic or pungent to the taste, or to both taste and smell; a drug; a savory or piquant condiment or eatable; a relish. The word in this sense formerly had a much wider range than at present (def. 6); it is still used in northern England as including sweetmeats, gingerbread, cake, and any kind of dried fruit. "Hastow auzte in thi purs, any hote spices?" "I haue peper and piones (peony-seeds]," quod she, "and a pounde of garlike, A ferthyngworth of fenel-seed for fastyngdayes."