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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SPEC'ULATE, v.i. [L. speculor, to view, to contemplate, from specio, to see.]
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.
SPEC'ULATE, v.t. To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a thing. [Not in use.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps" [syn: speculate, theorize, theorise, conjecture, hypothesize, hypothesise, hypothecate, suppose]
2: talk over conjecturally, or review in an idle or casual way and with an element of doubt or without sufficient reason to reach a conclusion; "We were speculating whether the President had to resign after the scandal"
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, excogitate, contemplate, muse, reflect, mull, mull over, ruminate, speculate]
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: speculate, job]

Merriam Webster's

verb (-lated; -lating) Etymology: Latin speculatus, past participle of speculari to spy out, examine, from specula lookout post, from specere to look, look at — more at spy Date: 1599 intransitive verb 1. a. to meditate on or ponder a subject ; reflect b. to review something idly or casually and often inconclusively 2. to assume a business risk in hope of gain; especially to buy or sell in expectation of profiting from market fluctuations transitive verb 1. to take to be true on the basis of insufficient evidence ; theorize <speculated that a virus caused the disease> 2. to be curious or doubtful about ; wonder <speculates whether it will rain all vacation> Synonyms: see think • speculator noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 intr. (usu. foll. by on, upon, about) form a theory or conjecture, esp. without a firm factual basis; meditate (speculated on their prospects). 2 tr. (foll. by that, how, etc. + clause) conjecture, consider (speculated how he might achieve it). 3 intr. a invest in stocks etc. in the hope of gain but with the possibility of loss. b gamble recklessly. Derivatives: speculator n. Etymology: L speculari spy out, observe f. specula watch-tower f. specere look

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Speculate Spec"u*late, v. t. To consider attentively; as, to speculate the nature of a thing. [R.] --Sir W. Hamilton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(speculates, speculating, speculated) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you speculate about something, you make guesses about its nature or identity, or about what might happen. It would be unfair to Debby's family to speculate on the reasons for her suicide... The doctors speculate that he died of a cerebral haemorrhage caused by a blow on the head... The reader can speculate what will happen next. VERB: V prep, V that, V wh • speculation (speculations) The President has gone out of his way to dismiss speculation over the future of the economy minister... N-VAR 2. If someone speculates financially, they buy property, stocks, or shares, in the hope of being able to sell them again at a higher price and make a profit. The banks made too many risky loans which now can't be repaid, and they speculated in property whose value has now dropped. VERB: V prep/adv

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. 1. Meditate, contemplate, cogitate, reflect, ponder, muse, ruminate, think, consider, theorize. 2. Trade (hazardously).

Moby Thesaurus

be abstracted, be caught short, be short, belong, brood, bucket, bucketshop, buy in, buy into, call, cast a horoscope, cast a nativity, cast lots, cerebrate, chew over, chew the cud, cogitate, consider, contemplate, cut lots, cut the cards, debate, deliberate, deposit margin, digest, divine, dope, dope out, dowse for water, draw lots, draw straws, entertain a theory, espouse a theory, evaluate, excogitate, financier, forebode, forecast, foresee, foretell, fortune-tell, gamble, game, go long, guess, hariolate, have a theory, hold on, hypothesize, introspect, invest, invest in, judge, lay out money, lot, make a killing, make a prediction, make a prognosis, make a prophecy, make a scoop, make an investment, margin up, match coins, meditate, miss the market, mull over, muse, operate, overstay the market, perpend, place, play, play around with, play at dice, play the market, play the ponies, play with, plow back into, plunge, ponder, ponder over, postulate, predict, prefigure, presage, prognosticate, prophesy, put, pyramid, raffle off, read palms, read tea leaves, read the future, reason, reflect, reinvest, review, risk, ruminate, scalp, scoop the market, shoot craps, sink, sink money in, soothsay, sport, stag, stag the market, study, take a chance, take a flier, tell fortunes, tell the future, theorize, toss, toy with, trade on margin, vaticinate, venture, wager, weigh, wonder about