All 33 Uses of
speculate
in
Gone with the Wind
- Savannah buzzed behind its doors and speculated about Philippe Robillard, who had gone West, but the gossiping brought no answer.
Chpt 1.3 (definition 1)speculated = gossiped and guessed
- They landed their cargoes at Wilmington or Charleston, where they were met by swarms of merchants and speculators from all over the South who assembled to buy blockaded goods at auction.†
Chpt 2.12 (definition 2)
- For some months, he was the most popular and romantic figure the town knew, despite his previous reputation, despite the faint rumors that he was engaged not only in blockading but in speculating on foodstuffs, too.
Chpt 2.12 (definition 2)speculating = buying and selling at profit
- He is a traitor, a speculator!†
Chpt 2.12 (definition 2)
- The doctor's letter was the first of a chorus of indignation that was beginning to be heard all over the South against speculators, profiteers and holders of government contracts.†
Chpt 2.13 (definition 2)
- Speculators swarmed Wilmington and, having the ready cash, bought up boatloads of goods and held them for a rise in prices.†
Chpt 2.13 (definition 2)
- The civilian population had either to do without or buy at the speculators' prices, and the poor and those in moderate circumstances were suffering increasing hardships.†
Chpt 2.13 (definition 2)
- To make matters worse, there was only one railroad line from Wilmington to Richmond and, while thousands of barrels of flour and boxes of bacon spoiled and rotted in wayside stations for want of transportation, speculators with wines, taffetas and coffee to sell seemed always able to get their goods to Richmond two days after they were landed at Wilmington.†
Chpt 2.13 (definition 2)
- Already soldiers and civilians alike were feeling the pinch, and the muttering against him and his fellow speculators was bitter.†
Chpt 2.13 (definition 2)
- Despite privation and hardships, despite food speculators and kindred scourges, despite death and sickness and suffering which had now left their mark on nearly every family, the South was again saying "One more victory and the war is over," saying it with even more happy assurance than in the summer before.†
Chpt 2.14 (definition 2)
- Old men growled in their beards, and Mrs. Merriwether who feared nothing rose slightly in her carriage and said clearly: "Speculator!" in a tone that made the word the foulest and most venomous of epithets.†
Chpt 2.14 (definition 2)
- But later, he'll probably hate to think that a speculator brought the news of a hero's death.†
Chpt 2.14 (definition 2)
- It was a situation made to order for speculators and profiteers, and men were not lacking to take advantage of it.†
Chpt 2.16 (definition 2)
- As food and clothing grew scarcer and prices rose higher and higher, the public outcry against the speculators grew louder and more venomous.†
Chpt 2.16 (definition 2)
- In those early days of 1864, no newspaper could be opened that did not carry scathing editorials denouncing the speculators as vultures and bloodsucking leeches and calling upon the government to put them down with a hard hand.†
Chpt 2.16 (definition 2)
- He had sold his boats when blockading grew too hazardous, and he was now openly engaged in food speculation.
Chpt 2.16 (definition 2) *speculation = risky investment
- It simply made everybody furious that an old speculator who always said nasty things about the Confederacy should have so much money when we were all so poor.†
Chpt 4.33 (definition 2)
- Where did you get all your money? Speculating?
Chpt 4.34 (definition 2)speculating = making risky investments
- Part I got from food speculation.
Chpt 4.36 (definition 2)speculation = risky investment
- He despised him for the cold-blooded way he had acted in his speculations during the war and for the fact that he had not been in the army.
Chpt 4.36 (definition 2)speculations = money-making investments
- My brother's given what he could, though he hasn't much to give and he won't take anything from me either—speculator's money is unlucky money, you see!†
Chpt 4.43 (definition 2)
- And they couldn't uphold it if it were known that gambling money and speculator's money and Carpetbag money was behind it.†
Chpt 4.43 (definition 2)
- But they were stung that they must owe lives and freedom to Rhett Butler, a speculator and a Scallawag.†
Chpt 4.46 (definition 2)
- As for Rhett, he had enjoyed the town's hatred since his speculations during the war and he had not further endeared himself to his fellow citizens by his alliances with the Republicans since then.
Chpt 4.47 (definition 2)speculations = money-making investments
- They all made their money speculating in food like your loving husband or out of dubious government contracts or in shady ways that won't bear investigation.
Chpt 5.48 (definition 2)speculating = guessing without certainty; or reflecting (thinking) deeply upon a subject
- It's harder for speculators' money to get into the best parlors than for the camel to go through the needle's eye.†
Chpt 5.48 (definition 2)
- He was bad enough when he was a speculator during the war and making money out of our hunger but now that he is hand in glove with the Carpetbaggers and Scallawags and a friend—actually a friend of that odious wretch, Governor Bullock— Call, indeed!†
Chpt 5.49 (definition 2)
- So the river-boat gambler and the speculator is going to be respectable!†
Chpt 5.52 (definition 2)
- Completely surrounding the state capitol was a host of promoters, speculators, seekers after contracts and others hoping to profit from the orgy of spending, and many were growing shamelessly rich.†
Chpt 5.52 (definition 2)
- Mrs. Elsing hated to take his money—"speculator money"—but the Association needed money badly.†
Chpt 5.52 (definition 2)
- She made Scarlett arrive early on these afternoons and remain until the last callers had gone, thereby depriving the ladies of the opportunity for enjoyable group discussion and speculation, a matter which caused some mild indignation.
Chpt 5.55 (definition 1)speculation = guessing or theorizing
- When I was a speculator?†
Chpt 5.58 (definition 2)
- He looked at her in an almost kindly way, speculation in his eyes.
Chpt 5.63 (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