expectation
(ɛkspɛkˈteɪʃən)
[ad. L. expectātiōn-em, n. of action f. exspectāre to expect.]
1. The action of waiting; the action or state of waiting for or awaiting (something). Now only with mixture of sense 2: Expectant waiting.
| 1550 Bale Image Both Ch. B iiij, Dilygent Expectacion in the faith of Gods promyses. 1601 Shakes. Jul. C. i. i. 46 [You] haue sate The liue-long day, with patient expectation, To see great Pompey. 1605 ― Lear iv. iv. 23 Our preparation stands In expectation of them. c 1667 South Serm. Consecration (1715) 282 A daily Expectation at the Gate, is the readiest Way to gain Admittance into the House. 1675 Bentley Pref. to Dryden's Mistaken Husband 250 This Play was left in Mr. Dryden's hands many years since..After Twelve years expectation, Mr. Dryden gave it to the Players. 1721–1800 in Bailey. 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xxvii. 221 After another hour of cold expectation they came again. |
b. = expectant method: see expectant A. 2.
| 1689 G. Harvey (title), The Art of Curing Diseases by Expectation. 1866 A. Flint Princ. Med. (1880) 112 The treatment of a disease by expectation consists in watching carefully its progress, and meeting with appropriate measures unfavorable events as they arise. 1884 in Syd. Soc. Lex. |
c. attrib., as in expectation-week (see quot.).
| 1622 Sparrow Bk. Com. Prayer (1661) 196 Sunday after Ascens. This is called Expectation-week for now the Apostles were..expecting the fulfilling of that promise of our Lord. |
2. The action of mentally looking for some one to come, forecasting something to happen, or anticipating something to be received; anticipation; a preconceived idea or opinion with regard to what will take place. Phrases. against expectation, beyond expectation, contrary to expectation, † out of, etc. expectation.
| 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 42 Expectatioun or loking for the blys of hevin. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 6 If dew successe..shoulde not chaunce according vnto theyr hope & expectation. 1563 Fulke Meteors (1640) 70 b, Some perchance, would looke that wee..should entreat of..precious stones, which matter though it be out of our purpose..yet seeing it is not out of the expectation. 1563 Golding Cæsar 149 When contrarye to theyr expectacion, our enemyes saw vs..return. 1599 Shakes. Much Ado ii. iii. 220 If he do not doat on her vpon this, I wil neuer trust my expectation. 1603 Daniel Panegyr. King lxi, Where mens expectations intertaine Hopes of more good. 1736 Butler Anal. Introd. Wks. 1874 I. 2 Our expectations that others will act so and so in such circumstances. 1767 Gooch Treat. Wounds I. 404 Nature, assisted by art, perfected a cure beyond expectation. 1792 Anecd. W. Pitt III. xliv. 205 Is it.. within the utmost stretch of the most sanguine expectation, that [etc.]. 1851 Robertson Serm. Ser. iv. iii. (1863) I. 22 Their attitude of Expectation—they were waiting for the coming of the Lord. 1874 Green Short Hist. vi. 301 No accession ever excited higher expectations among a people than that of Henry the Eighth. |
b. The looking for something as one's due (cf. expect 5 b); in pl. what one looks for or requires one's (mental) demands.
| 1655 in Nicholas Pap. (1892) II. 225 Though those princes be punctuall in their expectations of compliments of that nature. |
c. Supposition with regard to what is present or past. Cf. expect v. 6.
| 1793 T. Jefferson Writ. (1859) III. 548 The expectation that you are always from home prevents my writing to you. 1822 E. Nathan Langreath III. 88 A fond expectation that the Duke had come in search of her. |
3. The state or condition of expecting or mentally looking for something; the mental attitude of one who expects; expectancy. Formerly occas. in pl.
| 1538 Starkey England i. i. 24 In such expectatyon they spend theyr lyfe. 1653 Walton Angler i. 11, I am now become so full of expectation, that, etc. 1659 B. Harris Parival's Iron Age 189 And yet was he degraded before his death, and in hourly expectation of the Hangman. 1667 Milton P.L. x. 782 No fear of worse..would torment me With cruel expectation. 1745 Fortunate Orphan 235 She is in the highest Expectations. 1772 Priestley Inst. Relig. (1782) II. 99 Expectation begins to awake in the infant mind. 1827 Pollok Course T. ix, Upon the tiptoe raised of expectation. 1864 Spectator 454 Influences..that substitute the flutter of expectation for hope. |
4. Ground or warrant for expecting; the condition of being likely, or entitled, to receive or experience something in the future.
| 1611 Bible Ps. lxii. 5 My soule wait thou onely vpon God; for my expectation is from him. 1708 Atterbury Serm. on Job xxii. (1723) II. 198 To whom can we betake our selves with greater Expectations to succeed in our Addresses? |
b. pl. Prospects of inheritance or of profiting by testament.
| 1669 Lady Chaworth in 12th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 11 Lord Huntingtons marriage is as good as concluded with Sir James Langhams daughter, who gives 20,000l. downe, besides expectations. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scandal iii. iii, I have a rich old uncle..from whom I have the greatest expectations. 1837 Lytton E. Maltrav. 45 O yes; I have what are called expectations. 1861 Dickens (title), Great Expectations. |
† c. = expectative B. 2. Obs. rare—1.
| 1536 Latimer in 27 Serm. (1562) 9 b, Some brought forth Canonizations, some Expectations, some pluralities and vnions. |
5. The state or condition of being expected; only in phrase in expectation.
| 1657 J. Smith Myst. Rhet. 252 Desire..is a strange countrey..where corn is still in grass..and birds alwayes in the shell..all is there only in expectation. 1785 Reid Int. Powers ii. xx. 271 Belief of good or ill either present or in expectation. 1832 Webster s.v., A sum of money in expectation, when an event happens, has a determinate value before that event happens. |
† 6. of (great, etc.) expectation: affording ground for favourable anticipations; promising. Obs.
| a 1586 Sidney Arcadia i. xii. (1590) 51 b You, borne so great a Prince, and of so rare, not onely expectation, but proofe. 1605 Verstegan Dec. Intell. viii. (1628) 246 The worthiest names, were to bee giuen to such as were of worthiest expectation. 1788 Lond. Mag. 423 He was so bred..and was of such expectation, that he looked like a miracle of a man. |
7. That which is expected; the object of expectance; a thing expected or looked forward to.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 36 The hope and expectation of thy time Is ruin'd. 1667 Milton P.L. xii. 379, I understand Why our great expectation should be call'd The seed of Woman. |
8. The degree of probability of the occurrence of any contingent event.
| 1832 Webster s.v., If the chances of receiving or not receiving a hundred dollars..are equal; then..the expectation is worth half the money. 1838 De Morgan Ess. Probab. v. (1841) 97 The balance is the average required, and is known by the name of the mathematical expectation. 1848 Wharton Law Lex., Expectation, in the doctrine of chances, is applied to any contingent event, upon the happening of which some benefit is expected. Ibid., The value of the expectation is..{pstlg}5. |
b. expectation of life: (see quots.)
| 1725 De Moivre Ess. Annuities, The expectation of life is that duration which may be justly expected from a life of a given age. 1796 Hutton Math. Dict., Expectation of Life is the..number of years of life, which a person of a given age may, upon an equality of chance, expect to enjoy. 1846 M{supc}Culloch Acc. Brit. Empire (1854) I. 420 The expectation of life among the government annuitants. |
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Add: 9. Special Comb.: expectation value Quantum Mech., the expected value of any observable property (e.g. position, energy, momentum) of a quantum-mechanical system.
| 1943 W. Pauli in Rev. Mod. Physics July 177/2 They lead to the consequence that operators with only positive eigenvalues can have negative *expectation values. 1968 G. Ludwig Wave Mech. i. iv. 49 The expectation value of A must then be calculated. 1978 P. W. Atkins Physical Chem. xiii. 417 In order to extract this information we construct a quantity called the expectation value for the property of interest. |