calculate

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin calculātus, perfect passive participle of calculō (“I reckon, originally by means of pebbles”), from calculus (“a pebble”). Refer to calculus for origin.

verb

1. (transitive, mathematics) To determine the value of something or the solution to something by a mathematical process.
   Calculate the square root of 3 to 10 decimal places.
2. (intransitive, mathematics) To determine values or solutions by a mathematical process; reckon.
3. (intransitive, US, dialect) To plan; to expect; to think.
   I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
4. To ascertain or predict by mathematical or astrological computations the time, circumstances, or other conditions of; to forecast or compute the character or consequences of.
   to calculate or cast one's nativity
5. To adjust for purpose; to adapt by forethought or calculation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of means to an end.
   to calculate a system of laws for the government and protection of a free people
6. (chess) To imagine sequences of potential moves and responses without actually moving the pieces.