2.4 KiB
2.4 KiB
compute |kəmˈpjuːt|
verb [ with obj. ] reckon or calculate (a figure or amount): the hire charge is computed on a daily basis.
- [ no obj., with negative ] informal seem reasonable; make sense: the idea of a woman alone in a pub did not compute.[from the phrase does not compute, once used as an error message in computing.]
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from French computer or Latin computare, from com- ‘together’ + putare ‘to settle (an account)’.
reckon |ˈrɛk(ə)n|
verb
- [ with obj. ] establish by calculation: his debts were reckoned at £300,000 | the Byzantine year was reckoned from 1 September.
- (reckon someone/thing among) include someone or something in (a class or group): the society can reckon among its members males of the royal blood.
- [ with clause ] informal be of the opinion: he reckons that the army should pull out entirely | I reckon I can manage that.
- [ with obj. and complement ] consider or regard in a specified way: the event was reckoned a failure.
- [ no obj. ] (reckon on/to) informal have a specified view or opinion of: ‘What do you reckon on this place?’ she asked.
- [ with obj. ] Brit. informal rate highly: I don't reckon his chances.
- [ no obj. ] (reckon on) rely on or be sure of: they had reckoned on a day or two more of privacy.
- [ with infinitive ] informal expect to do a particular thing: I reckon to get away by two-thirty.
reckoning |ˈrɛk(ə)nɪŋ|
noun [ mass noun ]
- the action or process of calculating or estimating something: the sixth, or by another reckoning eleventh, Earl of Mar.
- a person's opinion or judgement: by ancient reckoning, bacteria are plants.
- [ count noun ] archaic a bill or account, or its settlement.
- the avenging or punishing of past mistakes or misdeeds: the fear of being brought to reckoning | [ count noun ] : there will be a terrible reckoning.
- (the reckoning) contention for a place in a team or among the winners of a contest: he has hit the sort of form which could thrust him into the reckoning.
ORIGIN Old English (ge)recenian‘recount, relate’, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch rekenen and German rechnen ‘to count (up)’. Early senses included ‘give an account of items received’ and ‘mention things in order’, which gave rise to the notion of ‘calculation’ and hence of ‘being of an opinion’.