specialize

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
   • Those who insist that a woman’s place is at home by divine decree need only to study the life of primitive man to find out how very human are some of our domestic customs, for they will then see this distinction, that while nature has specialized woman for child-bearing, it is society which has...1911 September, Laura Clarke Rockwood, “Food Preparation and Its Relation to the Development of Efficient Personality in the Home”, in Popular Science Monthly, volume LXXIX, pages 281–2
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
7. (British, English, Oxford, US, intransitive) To focus one's business upon a particular item or service.
   • Firms... which have specialised in the manufacture of ‘heavies’...1908 March 27, Pall Mall Gazette, 12/3
   • Blackhead: I might look you up myself one of these days. Do you specialise at all, like?
     Penny Guy: Yeah. Verbal abuse and colonic irrigation.1990, House of Cards, season 1, episode 1
8. (British, English, Oxford, US, derogatory, intransitive) To be known or notorious for some specialty.
   • Watson specializes in adiposeness; none of his chorus beauties may be considered featherweights.1923 November 14, Evening Independent, Massillon, Ohio, 5/3
9. (British, English, Oxford, US, transitive) To train (someone) in a specialty.
   • "Kia, Honey, you got to help him to it," Bell Norton told the 16 year old girl she was "specializing" as part of the hospital's intensive care program for high risk babies and mothers.1981 April 11, Andrea L. Loewenstein, “Voices in the Night”, in Gay Community News, page 17