Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Reckoning?

\Reck"on*ing\, n. 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 fro dead reckoning in contradistinction to observation. (b) The position of a ship as determined by calculation. {To be out of her reckoning}, to be at a distance from the place indicated by the reckoning; -- said of a ship.