reckon
/ˈɹɛkən/ verb, noun
Forms reckons reckoning reckoned reckin recken
- verb To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
- verb To count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.
- verb To charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.
- verb (colloquial) To conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause “I reckon he won't try that again.”
- verb To reckon with something or somebody or not, i.e. to reckon without something or somebody: to take into account, deal with, consider or not, i.e. to misjudge, ignore, not take into account, not deal with, not consider or fail to consider; e.g. reckon without one's host
- verb (intransitive) To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.
- verb To come to an accounting; to draw up or settle accounts; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; to adjust relations of desert or penalty.
- noun (informal) An impression or opinion.
Synonyms
number enumerate calculate compute value rate esteem think believe guess suppose figure opine imagine estimate count on forecast see consider view regard cipher cypher work out count bet depend look
Etymology
From Middle English rekenen, from Old English recenian (“to pay; arrange, dispose, reckon”) and ġerecenian (“to explain, recount, relate”); both from Proto-West Germanic *rekanōn (“to count, explain”), from Proto-West Germanic *rekan (“swift, ready, prompt”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- (“to make straight or right”).
Cognate with Scots rekkin (“to enumerate, mention, narrate, rehearse, count, calculate, compute”), Saterland Frisian reekenje (“to calculate, figure, reckon”), West Frisian rekkenje (“to account, tally, calculate, figure”), Dutch rekenen (“to count, calculate, reckon, charge”), German Low German reken (“to reckon”), German rechnen (“to count, reckon, calculate”), Danish regne (“to calculate”), Swedish räkna (“to count, calculate, reckon”), Norwegian Nynorsk rekna (“to calculate”), Icelandic reikna (“to calculate”), Latin rectus (“straight, right”). See also reck, reach.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.
- verb To count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.
- verb To make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing. Shak.
- verb To come to an accounting; to make up accounts; to settle; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; to adjust relations of desert or penalty.
Etymology [OE. rekenen, AS. gerecenian to explain; akin to D. rekenen to reckon, G. rechnen, OHG. rahnjan), and to E. reck, rake an implement; the original sense probably being, to bring together, count together. See Reck, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “reckon”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details