Spēc'ū-lāte1, v. i.
v. i. [imp. & p. p. SPECULATED; p. pr. & vb. n. SPECULATING.] [Lat. speculari, speculatus, to spy out, observe, from specula, a lookout, from specere, to look; It. speculare, Sp. especular, Fr. spéculer.]
Sense 1. To consider by turning an object in the mind, and viewing it in its different aspects and relations; to meditate; to contemplate; as, to speculate on political events.
Sense 2. (Com.) To purchase with the expectation of a contingent advance in value, and a consequent sale at a profit,—often in a somewhat reproachful sense of unsound or hazardous transactions; as, to speculate in coffee, or in sugar, or in bank-stock.