Verb

(speculat)

To think, meditate or reflect on a subject; to consider, to deliberate or cogitate.

* Hawthorne

It is remarkable that persons who speculate the most boldly often conform with the most perfect quietude to the external regulations of society.

To make an inference based on inconclusive evidence; to surmise or conjecture.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson

, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Fantasy of navigation , passage=It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: perhaps out of a desire to escape the gravity of this world or to get a preview of the next; […].}}

(intransitive, business, finance) To make a risky trade in the hope of making a profit; to venture or gamble.