▪ I. compute, n. Now rare.
(kəmˈpjuːt)
[In sense 1, a. F. comput computus; in others f. the verb.]
† 1. (ˈcompute) = computus 2. Obs.
| 1413 Lydg. Pilgr. Sowle v. i. (1859) 73 He that made this compute, and the kalendre. 1533 More Answ. Poysoned Bk. iv. viii. The common verse of the compute manuell. |
2. Reckoning, calculation, computation. Now chiefly in phr. beyond compute.
| 1588 J. Harvey Disc. Probleme 19 According to the historical Computes euen of sundry these fauorites. 1656 H. More Antid. Ath. ii. ii. (1712) 45 Any new pressure..cannot come into compute in this case. 1705 Bp. Wilson in Keble Life iv. (1863) 146 The expenses I have been at, which..by a modest compute comes to 100l. ready moneys. 1776 Johnson Lett. (1788) I. 314 With encrease of delight past compute, to use the phrase of Cumberland. 1857 R. G. Latham Prichard's East. Orig. Celtic N. 372 My obligations to his learning..are beyond compute. |
† 3. Estimation, judgement, reckoning. Obs.
| 1661 C. L. Origen's Opin. in Phenix (1721) I. 48 In the Compute and Judgement of that all-righteous Mind. 1682 Glanvill Sadducismus (ed. 2) Ded., If we make our compute like men, and do not suffer ourselves to be abused by the flatteries of sense. |
▪ II. compute, v.
(kəmˈpjuːt)
[a. F. compute-r (16th c. in Littré), ad. L. computā-re to reckon, sum up, f. com- together + putāre to clear up, settle, reckon.]
1. trans. To estimate or determine by arithmetical or mathematical reckoning; to calculate, reckon, count.
| 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iii. §71. 315 They compute their numbers, as the Græcians do, by letters. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 685 Two dayes, as we compute the dayes of Heav'n. 1672 P. Henry Diary & Lett. (1882) 254 His loss is generally computed to near 400 lb. 1776 Gibbon Decline & F. I. xvii. 434 Its most ordinary breadth may be computed at about one mile and a half. 1831 Brewster Optics vi. 58 The radii of curvature for these lenses, as computed by Mr. Herschel. 1833 H. Coleridge North. Worthies Introd. Ess. (1852) 17 To compute the comparative duration of life in different periods. |
† b. Of numbers: To make up, count. Obs.—1
| 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 580 As they move Thir starry dance in numbers that compute Days, months, and years. |
† c. To include in reckoning, count in. Obs.—1
| 1817 C. Grant in Parl. Deb. 1807 The right hon. gentleman's mistake arose in this manner:—he had computed the same sum twice. |
d. In wider sense: To estimate, ‘reckon’, take account of, take into consideration.
| 1647 Crashaw Poems 139 Ripe as those rich composures, time computes Blossoms, but our blest taste confesses fruits. 1654 Earl of Orrery Parthenissa (1676) 558 As he computed the business, he apprehended..either Syllaces recovery, or Zenophon's increasing Army, would, etc. 1786 Burns Addr. Unco Guid viii, What's done we partly may compute, But know not what's resisted. |
2. With dependent clause or inf. complement.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. iv. xii, Every man is many moneths elder then he computeth. 1666 Pepys Diary 15 Sept., He hath computed that the rents of the houses..comes to 600,000l. per annum. 1700 Dryden Fables, Ceyx & Alcyone 233 Mean time Alcyone..Computes how many nights he had been gone. 1705 Addison Italy, Rome (1767) 176 Some have computed it about fourteen or fifteen feet. 1724 Swift Drapier's Lett. ii, The souls in this kingdom are computed to be 1,500,000. 1880 Geikie Phys. Geog. iv. xix. 166 The total area of dry land..has been computed to amount to fifty-two millions of square miles. |
3. intr. To make computation; to reckon.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 161 As we compute from our Saviours Nativitie. 1727 Swift Gulliver ii. iv. 129 And computing by the scale, measured it pretty exactly. 1872 Yeats Growth Comm. 368 In silver payments..it was common to compute by weight. |
† b. To count upon, reckon on, or to do. Obs.
| 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. ii. (1709) 61 There must be..no computing upon Favours. 1701 ― tr. Gataker's Prelim. Disc. 16 If Men would think a little before-hand, and compute upon the Consequences of a Debauch. 1772 Birmingham Counterfeit I. 253 Travelling all night, we computed to arrive there by sun-rise. |
4. to compute (any one) out of (a thing): to do out of by computation.
| 1796 Burke Regic. Peace ii. Wks. VIII. 219 The calculators compute them out of their senses. |
Hence comˈputed ppl. a.
| 1741–3 Wesley Jrnl. 80 At Horseley upon Tyne, eight (computed) miles from Newcastle. 1849 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sc. xxxvii. 418 How far the computed ellipse agrees with the curve. |
Add: computed ppl. a.: esp. in computed tomography (cf. CT s.v. C III. 3), = computed axial tomography s.v. cat n.5
| 1974 Radiology CXIII. 351/1 Recently developed equipment for performing computer-analyzed axial tomography (computed tomography) has been employed at the Cleveland Clinic in the detection of orbital lesions. 1991 Lancet 9 Mar. 605/2 The ward doctor thought subarachnoid haemorrhage more likely than meningitis and he arranged for a computed tomography (CT) scan. |