Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

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.

Source : WordNet®

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"