SPECUA'TION, noun

1. Examination by the eye; view [Little used.]

2. Mental view of any thing in its various aspects and relations; contemplation; intellectual examination. The events of the day afford matter of serious speculation to the friends of christianity. Thenceforth to speculations high or deep. I turn'd my thoughts-

3. Train of thoughts formed by meditation. From him Socrates derived the principles of morality and most part of his natural speculations.

4. Mental scheme; theory; views of a subject not verified by fact or practice. This globe, which was formerly round only in speculation, has been circumnavigated. The application of steam to navigation is no longer a matter of mere speculation. Speculations which originate in guilt, must end in ruin.

5. Power of sight. Thou hast no speculation in those eyes. [Not in use.]

6. In commerce, the act or practice of buying land or goods, etc. in expectation of a rise 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 good are purchased, and the place to which they are to be carried for market. In England, France and America, public stock is the subject of continual speculation. In the United States, a few men have been enriched, but many have been ruined by speculation.