From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Speculation \Spec`u*la"tion\, n. [L. speculatio a spying out,
observation: cf. F. sp['e]culation.]
1. The act of speculating. Specifically:
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(a) Examination by the eye; view. [Obs.]
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(b) Mental view of anything in its various aspects and
relations; contemplation; intellectual examination.
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Thenceforth to speculations high or deep
I turned my thoughts. --Milton.
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(c) (Philos.) The act or process of reasoning a priori
from premises given or assumed.
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(d) (Com.) 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.
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Sudden fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in
such places, by what is called the trade of
speculation. --A. Smith.
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Speculation, while confined within moderate
limits, is the agent for equalizing supply and
demand, and rendering the fluctuations of price
less sudden and abrupt than they would otherwise
be. --F. A.
Walker.
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(e) Any business venture in involving unusual risks, with
a chance for large profits.
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2. A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere
theory; view; notion; conjecture.
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From him Socrates derived the principles of
morality, and most part of his natural speculations.
--Sir W.
Temple.
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To his speculations on these subjects he gave the
lofty name of the "Oracles of Reason." --Macaulay.
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3. Power of sight. [Obs.]
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Thou hast no speculation in those eyes. --Shak.
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4. 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.
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From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
speculation
n 1: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete
evidence [syn: {guess}, {conjecture}, {supposition},
{surmise}, {surmisal}, {speculation}, {hypothesis}]
2: a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or
conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence);
"speculations about the outcome of the election"; "he
dismissed it as mere conjecture" [syn: {speculation},
{conjecture}]
3: an investment that is very risky but could yield great
profits; "he knew the stock was a speculation when he bought
it" [syn: {speculation}, {venture}]
4: continuous and profound contemplation or musing on a subject
or series of subjects of a deep or abstruse nature; "the
habit of meditation is the basis for all real knowledge"
[syn: {meditation}, {speculation}]
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