Thy specular orb Apply to well-dissected kernels; lo! In each
observe the slender threads Of first-beginning trees.
J. Philips.
4. Affording view. [R.] "Look once more, ere we leave this specular
mount." Milton.
Specular iron. (Min.) See Hematite.
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.
Spec"u*late, v. t. To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature
of a thing. [R.] Sir W. Hamilton.
Spec`u*la"tion (?), n. [L. speculatio a spying out, observation: cf. F.
spéculation.] 1. The act of speculating. Specifically: --
(a) Examination by the eye; view. [Obs.]
(b) Mental view of anything in its various aspects and relations;
contemplation; intellectual examination.
Thenceforth to speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts.
Milton.
(c) (Philos.) The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises
given or assumed.
(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.
Sudden fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in such places, by what
is called the trade of speculation.
A. Smith.
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.
(e) Any business venture in involving unusual risks, with a chance for
large profits.
2. A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory;
view; notion; conjecture.
From him Socrates derived the principles of morality, and most part
of his natural speculations.
Sir W. temple.
To his speculations on these subjects he gave the lofty name of the
"Oracles of Reason."
Macaulay.