speculation

noun

1. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)The faculty of sight.

   “Thou hast no speculation in those eyes.”

2. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)An act of looking at something; examination, observation.

   “[T]he expression of exultation and content on their animated faces, is one of my most delicious speculations.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The process or act of thinking or meditating on a subject.

   “Thenceforth to speculations high or deep I turned my thoughts.”

   “It ſeems, the Minds of theſe People are ſo taken up with intenſe Speculations, that they neither can ſpeak, nor attend to the Diſcourſes of others, without being rouzed by ſome external Taction upon the Organs of Speech and Hearing; for which reaſon, thoſe Perſons who are able to afford it always keep a Flapper (the Original is Climenole) in their Family, as one of their Domeſticks, nor ever walk abroad or make Viſits without him.”

   “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have ended months of intense speculation by announcing they are expecting their first child, but were forced to share their news earlier than hoped because of the Duchess's admission to hospital on Monday.”

4. (countable, uncountable)The act or process of reasoning a priori from premises given or assumed.
5. (countable, uncountable)A conclusion to which the mind comes by speculating; mere theory; notion; conjecture.

   “[N]ear the Age of Socrates lived their Great and Renowned Confutius, who began the ſame Deſign, of reclaiming Men from the uſeless and endleſs Speculations of Nature, to thoſe of Morality.”

   “To his speculations on these subjects he gave the lofty name of the "Oracles of Reason".”

6. (countable, uncountable)An investment involving higher-than-normal risk in order to obtain a higher-than-normal return.
7. (countable, uncountable)The act or practice of buying land, goods, shares, etc., in expectation of selling at a higher price, or of selling with the expectation of repurchasing at a lower price; a trading on anticipated fluctuations in price, as distinguished from trading in which the profit expected is the difference between the retail and wholesale prices, or the difference of price in different markets.

   “Sudden fortunes, indeed, are sometimes made in such places, by what is called the trade of speculation.”

   “Speculation, while confined within moderate limits, is the agent for equalizing supply and demand, and rendering the fluctuations of price less sudden and abrupt than they would otherwise be.”

8. (countable, uncountable)A card game in which the players buy from one another trumps or whole hands, upon a chance of getting the highest trump dealt, which entitles the holder to the pool of stakes.
9. (countable, uncountable)The process of anticipating which branch of code will be chosen and executing it in advance.