| 释义 |
speculatist|ˈspɛkjʊleɪtɪst|
[f. speculate v.]
1. One who speculates, or indulges in abstract reasoning; a professed or habitual speculator; a theorist. (Very common from c 1750.)
1613tr. Pedro Mexio's Treas. Anc. & Mod. Times 12/2 The Septuagint..haue commonly traduced it to be in Eden... Other speculatis[t]es do affirme it to be in Syria. 1621Granger Eccl. 24 Let the profoundest speculatist, or curious practitioner, turne the edge of his wit which way he will to finde out some new thing. 1714tr. T. à Kempis, Chr. Exerc. x. 15 Either a lofty Speculatist, or a subtil Disputant. 1750Johnson Rambler No. 14 ⁋5 The speculatist is only in danger of erroneous reasoning, but the man involved in life has his own passions, and those of others, to encounter. 1780Cowper Progr. Error 490 Fresh confidence the speculatist takes From ev'ry hair-brain'd proselyte he makes. 1807Edinb. Rev. X. 369 We shall..lay before our readers the opinions of this clever speculatist. 1849Darwin in Life & Lett. (1887) II. 37 This confounded variation..is pleasant to me as a speculatist, though odious to me as a systematist. 1886A. Weir Hist. Basis Mod. Europe (1889) 20 The social principles recommended by speculatists.
b. With disparaging adjs.
1693W. Freke Sel. Ess. xxxiv. 223 'Tis the Curse of dreaming Speculatists, that they not only have no taste of real Wisdom, but mispend the time that should lead them to it. 1766E. Carter Let. to Mrs. Vesey 1 July, The most visionary speculatist must sometimes awake to the cares and solicitudes of real life. 1792W. Roberts Looker-on (1794) I. 373 An Utopian speculatist might amuse himself with planning a department..which should be called the office of advice. 1827G. S. Faber Orig. Expiat. Sacr. 262 The notion of its divine institution originated..with some fantastical innovating speculatists among the modern Puritans. 1850McCosh Div. Govt. 217 He is probably an idle dreamer,..or a wild speculatist. 1893Ch. Times 20 Oct. 1062 The vapid and airy region of third-rate speculatists.
c. As the title of a book or periodical.
1730(title), The Speculatist. A Collection of Letters and Essays, Moral and Political, Serious and Humourous, upon Various Subjects. [1787Sir J. Hawkins Life Johnson 538 Concanen, one of the Dunciad heroes, in a paper called ‘The Speculatist’.]
d. With adjs. denoting the subject or sphere of speculation.
1802Beddoes Hygëia viii. 92 The hypothesis of any medical speculatist. 1818Busby Gram. Music 167 Among those who succeeded Rameau, as musical speculatists, was the celebrated Tartini. 1837–8Sir W. Hamilton in Reid's Wks. I. 53/2 Some of the recent physiological speculatists of Germany. 1850Gladstone Glean. (1879) V. lxxxiii. 222 In the other case we may as political speculatists either rank with those [etc.].
2. One who speculates in commerce or finance.
1812Examiner 5 Oct. 634/1 The Corn and Mealing Trade has lately got into the hands of Speculatists. 1832Fraser's Mag. V. 653 Among other inducements to the cupidity of the queen and speculatists, he affirmed [etc.]. 1834H. Miller Scenes & Leg. xxx. (1857) 448 The great wealth of the speculatist proved insufficient. |