specialise

Verb

specialize (third-person singular simple present specializes, present participle specializing, simple past and past participle specialized)

1. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive, obsolete) To go into specific details.
   • Firſt laſh the Great-ones ; but, if thou be wiſe, / In generall, and doe not ſpeciallize : / Yet, if thou doe, ſo wiſely let it be, / None may except but thoſe that faulty be.1613, George Wither, “The Scourge”, in Juvenilia, page 334
2. (British, English, Oxford, US, rare, transitive) To specify: to mention specifically.
   • Our Sauiour specialising and nominating the places in which these false prophets should teach his presence to be.1616, Richard Sheldon, A Survey of the Miracles of the Church of Rome, Proving Them to be Antichristian, section 261
3. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive, uncommon) To narrow in scope.
   • He is at moſt a confuſed and wild Chriſtian, not ſpecialized by any form, but capable of all.1628, John Earle, Micro-Cosmography: Or, A Piece of the World Characterized, Salisbury: E. Easton, published 1786, page 121
4. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To make distinct or separate due to form or function.
   • In the lowest orders of being, we find these functions very much blended together, and several of them apparently performed by one simple apparatus ; but in proportion as we rise in the scale, we perceive that they are specialized, or separated from each other, and that a complicated set of organs...1835 October, “On the Structure and Functions of the Organs of Respiration”, in West of England Journal, volume I, number IV, page 218
5. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive) To become distinct or separate from what is common, particularly
   • These cells specialized for propagation, however they may originate, are accordingly distinguished by a special name, that of Spores of Sporules.1850, Asa Gray, “Of the General Morphology of the Plant”, in The Botanical Text-Book, 4th edition, New York: George P. Putnam & Co., published 1853, page 69
6. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive) To focus one's study upon a particular skill, field, topic, or genre.
   • Also, to their honour be it said, they will not allow their scholars to specialize, and, with four hours of mathematics a week, even a Newton would not go up to Cambridge knowing much.1881 March 1, “Occasional Notes”, in Journal of Education (new), number 37, page 51

See all 9 meanings of specialize