SG Heritage Dictionary

Specula [Plural] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Specular [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Having the qualities of a mirror or looking glass; having a smooth reflecting surface; as a specular metal; a specular surface.

2. Assisting sight. [Improper and not used.]

3. Affording view.

Specular [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Having the qualities of a speculum, or mirror; having a smooth, reflecting surface; as, a specular metal; a specular surface.

2. Of or pertaining to a speculum; conducted with the aid of a speculum; as, a specular examination.

3. Assisting sight, as a lens or the like.

4. Affording view.

Speculate [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To meditate; to contemplate; to consider a subject by turning it in the mind and viewing it in its different aspects and relations; as, to speculate on political events; to speculate on the probable results of a discovery.

2. In commerce, to purchase land, goods, stock or other things, with the expectation of an advance in price, and of selling the articles with a profit by means of such advance; as, to speculate in coffee, or in sugar, or in six percent stock, or in bank stock.

Speculate [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a thing. [Not in use.]

Speculate [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

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.

2. To view subjects from certain premises given or assumed, and infer conclusions respecting them a priori.

3. 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.

Speculate [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a thing.

Speculated [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Speculate

Speculating [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Speculate

Speculation [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The act of speculating.

2. Examination by the eye; view.

3. Mental view of anything in its various aspects and relations; contemplation; intellectual examination.

4. The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed.

5. The act or practice of buying land, goods, shares, etc., in expectation of selling at a higher price, or of selling with the expectation of repurchasing at a lower price; a trading on anticipated fluctuations in price, as distinguished from trading in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices, or the difference of price in different markets.

6. Any business venture in involving unusual risks, with a chance for large profits.

7. A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; view; notion; conjecture.

8. Power of sight.

9. A game at cards in which the players buy from one another trumps or whole hands, upon a chance of getting the highest trump dealt, which entitles the holder to the pool of stakes.

Speculatist [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

One who speculates or forms theories; a speculator.

Speculatist [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

One who speculates, or forms theories; a speculator; a theorist.

Speculative [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Given to speculation; contemplative; applied to persons. The min of man being by nature speculative-

2. Formed by speculation; theoretical; ideal; not verified by fact, experiment or practice; as a scheme merely speculative

3. Pertaining to view; also, prying.

Speculative [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Given to speculation; contemplative.

2. Involving, or formed by, speculation; ideal; theoretical; not established by demonstration.

3. Of or pertaining to vision; also, prying; inquisitive; curious.

4. Of or pertaining to speculation in land, goods, shares, etc.; as, a speculative dealer or enterprise.

Speculatively [Adverb] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. In contemplation; with meditation.

2. Ideally; theoretically; in theory only, not in practice. Propositions seem often to be speculatively true, which experience does not verify.

Speculativeness [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

The state of being speculative, or of consisting in speculation only.

Speculator [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. One who speculates or forms theories.

2. An observer; a contemplator.

3. A spy; a watcher.

4. In commerce, one who buys goods, land or other thing, with the expectation of a rise of price, and of deriving profit from such advance.

Speculator [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. One who speculates. Specifically: (a) An observer; a contemplator; hence, a spy; a watcher.

2. One who forms theories; a theorist.

3. One who engages in speculation; one who buys and sells goods, land, etc., with the expectation of deriving profit from fluctuations in price.

Speculatorial [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

Speculatory; speculative.

Speculatory [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. Exercising speculation.

2. Intended or adapted for viewing or espying.

Speculatory [Adjective] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. Intended or adapted for viewing or espying; having oversight.

2. Exercising speculation; speculative.