Hypertext Webster Gateway: "speculate"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Speculate \Spec"u*late\, v. t.
To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a
thing. [R.] --Sir W. Hamilton.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Speculate \Spec"u*late\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Speculated}; p.
pr. & vb. n. {Speculating}.] [L. speculatus, p. p. of
speculari to spy out, observe, fr. specula a lookout, fr.
specere to look. See {Spy}.]
1. To consider by turning a subject in the mind, and viewing
it in its different aspects and relations; to meditate; to
contemplate; to theorize; as, to speculate on questions in
religion; to speculate on political events.
It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most
boldly often conform with the most pefect quietude
to the external regulations of society. --Hawthorne.
2. (Philos.) To view subjects from certain premises given or
assumed, and infer conclusions respecting them a priori.
3. (Com.) To purchase with the expectation of a contingent
advance in value, and a consequent sale at a profit; --
often, in a somewhat depreciative sense, of unsound or
hazardous transactions; as, to speculate in coffee, in
sugar, or in bank stock.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
speculate
v 1: to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds:
"Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in
swamps." [syn: {theorize}, {theorise}, {conjecture}, {hypothesize},
{hypothecate}, {suppose}]
2: indulge in speculations
3: reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of
the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the
question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist
must stop to observe and start to excogitate" [syn: {chew
over}, {think over}, {meditate}, {ponder}, {excogotate}, {contemplate},
{muse}, {reflect}, {mull}, {mull over}, {ruminate}]
4: invest at a risk; "I bought this house not because I want to
live in it but to sell it later at a good price, so I am
speculating" [syn: {job}]
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