All 5 Uses of
speculate
in
The Scarlet Letter
- …after those wild, free days on the Assabeth, indulging fantastic speculations, beside our fire of fallen boughs, with Ellery Channing;
p. 23.3speculations = thoughts
- She assumed a freedom of speculation, then common enough on the other side of the Atlantic, but which our forefathers, had they known it, would have held to be a deadlier crime than that stigmatised by the scarlet letter.
p. 110.6speculation = forming opinions
- It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society. The thought suffices them, without investing itself in the flesh and blood of action.
p. 110.7 *speculate = think
- A tendency to speculation, though it may keep women quiet, as it does man, yet makes her sad.
p. 111.2speculation = forming opinions
- But Hester Prynne, with a mind of native courage and activity, and for so long a period not merely estranged, but outlawed from society, had habituated herself to such latitude of speculation as was altogether foreign to the clergyman.
p. 135.2
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
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) Much more rarely, speculation can refer to a gambling card game that was popular in the past.