| 释义 |
speculate, v.|ˈspɛkjʊleɪt|
[f. L. speculāt-, ppl. stem of speculārī to spy out, watch, examine, observe, etc., f. specula a look-out, watch-tower, f. specĕre to see, look. Cf. It. speculare, specolare, Sp. and Pg. especular, OF. especuler, speculer, F. spéculer.]
1. trans. To observe or view mentally; to consider, examine, or reflect upon with close attention; to contemplate; to theorize upon.
Common in the 17th c.; now rare or Obs.
1599Sandys Europæ Spec. (1632) 62 Yet notwithstanding these are theorems which few list to speculate. 1632J. Hayward tr. Biondi's Eromena 12 To speculate the meanes of negotiating with diversity of persons, and to put the same in practise. 1643Sir T. Browne Relig. Med. ii. §13 If we do but speculate the folly and indisputable dotage of avarice. a1706Evelyn Hist. Relig. (1850) I. 54 We should not, therefore, wholly consult our senses when we speculate truth. 1788T. Taylor Proclus I. 74 It is just, after speculating its whole and entire genus, to consider the differences of its more particular sciences, according to their species. 1793― Sallust v. 24 Likewise..we should speculate providence, fate and fortune, virtue and vice. 1852Sir W. Hamilton Discuss. (1853) 21 We..conceit ourselves that we contemplate absolute existence, when we only speculate absolute privation.
b. Said of the soul, understanding, etc.
1604T. Wright Passions iv. ii. §2. 129 A gluttonous stomacke..causeth such a mist before the eyes of the soul, that shee cannot possibly speculate any spirituall matters. a1652J. Smith Sel. Disc. iv. 87 Whensoever it will speculate truth itself, it will not then listen to the several clamours and votes of these rude senses. 1678Norris Misc. (1699) 157 It being..against the Nature of Understanding to make that truth which it speculates. 1816Pamphleteer VIII. 65 Fables are theological which employ nothing corporeal, but speculate the very essences of the gods.
c. With obj. clause introduced by how, what, when.
1856N. Brit. Rev. XXVI. 192 When the company were speculating what lost production of the human mind was most to be regretted. 1857J. Hamilton Less. Gt. Biog. 296 They were speculating how the stone might be moved away. 1885‘Mrs. Alexander’ At Bay xi, She had begun to speculate when Glynn would join them.
d. To talk (a matter) over conjecturally.
1862Dickens Somebody's Luggage i, Speculating it over with the Mistress, she informed me that the luggage had been advertised.
2. To look or gaze at (something); to examine, inspect, or observe closely or narrowly. ? Obs.
1616J. Lane Contn. Sqr.'s T. vi. 298 The troopes of horse, before, behind, theare, heere, speculates all approches, farr and neere. 1672Marvell Reh. Transp. I. 66 If he frequented their company it was only to speculate his own Baby in their Eyes. a1734North Lives (1826) III. 350 Every morning he speculated his urine. 1805Spirit Public Jrnls. IX. 244 Louis shall hold a mirror to thine eyes, Wherein thy downfal thou mayst speculate.
b. spec. To observe (the stars, heaven, etc.), esp. as an object of study.
1630Shirley Grateful Servant ii. i, I shall neuer eat garlike with Diogenes in a Tub, and speculate the Starres without a shirt. 1652Gaule Magastrom. 7 One contemplates them [i.e. the heavens, etc.] devoutly, and constantly;..the other speculates them superstitiously. 1707Athenian Sport (title-p.), The Eye beholds as much when it looks on a Shilling, as when it speculates the whole Heaven. 1890J. H. Stirling Philos. & Theol. iv. 73 The sun and moon, which, he [Anaxagoras] said, he was born to speculate.
†3. intr. To exercise spiritual contemplation.
c1630C. Lever in Farr S. P. Eliz. (1845) II. 523 Thy heauenly presence is a faire aspect; There doth my soule delight to speculate.
4. To engage in thought or reflection, esp. of a conjectural or theoretical nature, on or upon a subject.
a1677Barrow Serm. ii. Wks. 1686 III. 18 For who would not more readily learn..to draw by setting a good Picture before him, than by merely speculating upon the laws of Perspective. 1774Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) II. 67 It is all this time storing its mind with objects, upon the nature, the properties, and the relations of which future curiosity may speculate. 1790Burke Fr. Rev. Wks. 1898 II. 7, I certainly take my full share..in speculating on what has been done, or is doing, on the public stage. 1845Bailey Festus (ed. 2) 138 Here we can speculate on policy, On social manners, fashions, and the news. 1871C. Davies Metric Syst. iii. 121 Taxation and philosophy now began to speculate, at the same time, upon the weights and measures of England.
b. Const. about, as to, concerning, etc.
1847Helps Friends in C. i. viii. 133 Nearly every body whose death was worth speculating about. 1855Orr's Circ. Sci., Inorg. Nat. 217 Adaptations, concerning the nature, object, and extent of which it would be equally foolish and impossible to speculate. 1860Tyndall Glac. i. v. 38 While speculating as to the wisdom of entering the cavern.
5. To engage in the buying and selling of commodities or effects in order to profit by a rise or fall in their market value; to undertake, to take part or invest in, a business enterprise or transaction of a risky nature in the expectation of considerable gain. Also const. on or in.
1785Jefferson Corr. Wks. 1859 I. 472 Should any attempt be made to speculate on these papers [i.e. the public stocks]. 1787[implied in speculating vbl. n.]. 1822Byron Let. to Ellice 12 June, I do not go there to speculate, but to settle. 1839Dickens Nich. Nick. i, Would he be what he is if he hadn't speculated?
transf.1841Thackeray Gt. Hoggarty Diam. xiii, I was not over well pleased that his lordship should think me capable of speculating in any way on my wife's beauty.
b. In the game of speculation (q.v.).
1850Bohn's Handbk. Games (1864) 325 The eldest hand shews the uppermost card, which if a trump, the company may speculate on or bid for. Ibid., The company speculating as they please, till all are discovered.
c. To count or reckon on something as probable or certain. rare—1.
1797Coleridge Lett. (1895) I. 215 You might safely speculate on twenty pounds a year or more from your compositions.
d. trans. To invest (money) in an enterprise which involves considerable risk.
1907Westm. Gaz. 2 Dec. 7/1 They were compelled to own the cars privately because the railways would not speculate the money.
Hence ˈspeculated ppl. a., ˈspeculating vbl. n. (also attrib.) and ppl. a.
1787M. Cutler in Life, etc. (1888) I. 304 The speculating plan concerted between the British in Canada and New Yorkers was now well known. 1812Combe Syntax, Picturesque xxv. 232 We do not bring our learned powers To vex its speculating hours. 1820Scott Monast. xxxi, A rash..interpretation of the Scriptures, wrested according to the private opinion of each speculating heretic. 1865H. Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. i. (1868) 49 The innate sense of justice in men has been mocked by the speculated satisfactions of justice. |