All 10 Uses of
speculate
in
Middlemarch
- But further reflection told her that she was presumptuous in demanding his attention to such a subject; he would not disapprove of her occupying herself with it in leisure moments, as other women expected to occupy themselves with their dress and embroidery—would not forbid it when—Dorothea felt rather ashamed as she detected herself in these speculations.
Chpt 1 (definition 1)speculations = thoughts
- Who can tell what just criticisms Murr the Cat may be passing on us beings of wider speculation?
Chpt 1 (definition 1) *speculation = thought
- I like neither Bulstrode nor speculation.
Chpt 1 (definition 2) *speculation = risky investment
- But he was something more unmanageable than a dragon: he was a benefactor with collective society at his back, and he was at that moment entering the room in all the unimpeachable correctness of his demeanor, while Dorothea was looking animated with a newly roused alarm and regret, and Will was looking animated with his admiring speculation about her feelings.
Chpt 2 (definition 1)speculation = thoughts
- It must be confessed, also, that momentary speculations as to all the possible grounds for Mrs. Bulstrode's hints had managed to get woven like slight clinging hairs into the more substantial web of his thoughts.
Chpt 3 (definition 1)speculations = thoughts or guesses
- Another stranger had been brought to settle in the neighborhood of Middlemarch, but in the case of Mr. Rigg Featherstone there was more discontent with immediate visible consequences than speculation as to the effect which his presence might have in the future.
Chpt 4 (definition 1)speculation = thought
- He has everything at home then—no teasing with personal speculations—he can get calmness and freedom.
Chpt 4 (definition 1)speculations = thoughts
- It was not only that he was unwilling to entertain thoughts which could be accused of baseness, and was already uneasy in the sense that he had to justify himself from the charge of ingratitude—the latent consciousness of many other barriers between himself and Dorothea besides the existence of her husband, had helped to turn away his imagination from speculating on what might befall Mr. Casaubon.
Chpt 5 (definition 1)speculating = wondering
- For the moment he lost the sense of his wound in a sudden speculation about this new form of feminine impassibility revealing itself in the sylph-like frame which he had once interpreted as the sign of a ready intelligent sensitiveness.
Chpt 6 (definition 1)speculation = thought or theory
- How he could be "kin" to Bulstrode as well was not so clear, but Mrs. Abel agreed with her husband that there was "no knowing," a proposition which had a great deal of mental food for her, so that she shook her head over it without further speculation.
Chpt 7 (definition 1)speculation = thought
Definitions:
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(1) (speculate as in: don't know, but I'll speculate) to think about, wonder, guess or theorize with much uncertainty
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(2) (speculate as in: speculate in the stock market) to take a risk for profit--typically a risky investment