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Webster 1913 Edition


Reckoning

Reck′on-ing

,
Noun.
1.
The act of one who reckons, counts, or computes; the result of reckoning or counting; calculation.
Specifically:
(a)
An account of time.
Sandys.
(b)
Adjustment of claims and accounts; settlement of obligations, liabilities, etc.
Even
reckoning
makes lasting friends, and the way to make
reckonings
even is to make them often.
South.
He quitted London, never to return till the day of a terrible and memorable
reckoning
had arrived.
Macaulay.
2.
The charge or account made by a host at an inn.
A coin would have a nobler use than to pay a
reckoning
.
Addison.
3.
Esteem; account; estimation.
You make no further
reckoning
of it [beauty] than of an outward fading benefit nature bestowed.
Sir P. Sidney.
4.
(Navigation)
(a)
The calculation of a ship’s position, either from astronomical observations, or from the record of the courses steered and distances sailed as shown by compass and log, – in the latter case called
dead reckoning
(see under
Dead
); – also used for dead reckoning in contradistinction to
observation
.
(b)
The position of a ship as determined by calculation.

Webster 1828 Edition


Reckoning

RECKONING

,
ppr.
rek'ning. Counting; computing; esteeming; reputing; stating an account mutually.

Definition 2024


reckoning

reckoning

English

Verb

reckoning

  1. present participle of reckon

Noun

reckoning (plural reckonings)

  1. The action of calculating or estimating something.
    By that reckoning, it would take six weeks to go five miles.
    • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter III”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:
      When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped ; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals, and her pretty little Alsatian maid beside her, laying a log across the andirons.
  2. (archaic) The bill (UK) or check (US), especially at an inn or tavern.
    • 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy:
      So saying, he called for a reckoning for the wine, and throwing down the price of the additional bottle which he had himself introduced, rose as if to take leave of us.
  3. An opinion or judgement.
  4. The working out of consequences or retribution for one's actions.

Translations

Derived terms