Spĕc/ū-lā'tion, n.
n. [Lat. speculatio, Fr. spéculation, Pr. speculacio, Sp. especulacion, It. speculazione.] 1. The act of speculating; as, (a.) Examination by the eye; view. [Obs.] (b.) Mental view of any thing in its various aspects and relations; contemplation; intellectual examination.
Thenceforth to speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts. Milton.
(c.) (Com.) The act or practice of buying land or goods, &c., in expectation of a rise of price and of selling them at an advance, as distinguished from a regular trade, in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices, or the difference of price in the place where the goods are purchased and the place to which they are to be carried for market.
Sudden fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in such places, by what is called the trade of speculation. A. Smith.
Sense 2. The conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; view; reflection; conjecture.
Speculations which originate in guilt must end in ruin. Bp. Hall.
From him Socrates derived the principles of morality, and most part of his natural speculations. Sir W. Temple.
Sense 3. The act or result of scientific or abstract thinking; philosophical or metaphysical speculation.
Sense 4. Power of sight. [Obs.]
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes. Shak.