calculation
(ˌkælkjʊˈleɪʃən)
Also 4 calculacioun.
[a. F. calculation, ad. L. calculātiōn-em, f. calculāre to reckon, calculate. See -ation.]
1. The action or process of reckoning; computation.
| 1393 Gower Conf. II. 230 A great magicien Shulde of his calculation, Seche of constellation, How they the citee mighten gette. Ibid. III. 46 He maketh his calculations, He maketh his demonstrations. c 1400 Mandeville 236 The Philosophres comen, and seyn here avys aftre her calculaciouns. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. xxv. (R.) One Bartholomew Scullet..hath by calculation found the very day. 1757 Johnson Rambl. No. 154 ¶5 No estimate is more in danger of erroneous calculations. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 412 All arithmetic and calculation have to do with number. |
2. concr. The form in which reckoning is made; its product or result.
| 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. 134 If we suppose our present calculation, the Phaenix now in nature will be the sixt from the Creation. 1812 Jane Austen Mansf. Park (1851) 81 If the first calculation is wrong, we make a second better. 1871 C. Davies Metr. Syst. iii. 125 This calculation could not long suit the revenue. |
3. Estimate of probability, forecast.
| 1847 Emerson Repres. Men vi. Napoleon Wks. (Bohn) I. 372 His very attack was never the inspiration of courage, but the result of calculation. 1848 Lytton Harold v. 142 Hitherto, he had advanced on his career without calculation. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 470 The lazy gossips of the port, Abhorrent of a calculation crost. |