reckon

present singular third person reckons · participle present reckoning · participle past reckoned · past reckoned · alternative dialectal reckin · alternative obsolete recken

1. CommonwealthTo count; to enumerate; to number; also, to compute; to calculate.

   I reckoned above two hundred and fifty on the outside of the church.

   1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   then the priest shall reckon unto him the money according to the years that remain

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 27:18

   For all the king counted and pointed and reckoned, he could not find as much as a hair of them missing.

   1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 175

   Synonyms: number, enumerate, calculate, compute

2. CommonwealthTo count as in a number, rank, or series; to estimate by rank or quality; to place by estimation; to account; to esteem; to repute.

   He was reckoned among the transgressors

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 53:12

   1 more example

   For him I reckon not in high estate Whom long descent of birth, Or the sphere of fortune, raises

   1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC

3. CommonwealthTo charge, attribute, or adjudge to one, as having a certain quality or value.

   […] faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 4:9

   1 more example

   Without her eccentricities being reckoned to her for a crime.

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, chapter 10, in The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC

   Synonyms: value, rate, esteem

4. CommonwealthcolloquialTo conclude, as by an enumeration and balancing of chances; hence, to think; to suppose; -- followed by an objective clause

   I reckon he won't try that again.

   5 more examples

   I’ve just heard from the repairman: it's going to cost £1000. I'd reckoned it’d be £500 at most.

   For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 8:18

   Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 6:11

   The working life span of a passenger carriage, on average, is between 30 and 35 years, so a steady replacement takes place quite naturally. The life span of a station, however, cannot be so easily reckoned, for it depends largely on the rehabilitation and upkeep of the existing structures.

   1962 October, Brian Haresnape, “Focus on B.R. passenger stations”, in Modern Railways, page 250

   "Game over," Waddicor warns. "Look at the fuel gauge. Someone's forgotten to fill up." The heavily laden train has come from Freightliner's Maritime Terminal in Southampton's western docks. Waddicor reckons there might not be enough diesel in the tank to complete the journey.

   2025 August 20, Paul Clifton, “A driver's eye view of East West Rail”, in RAIL, number 1042, page 30

   Synonyms: think, believe, guess, suppose, esteem, figure

5. CommonwealthTo reckon with something or somebody or not, i.e. to reckon without something or somebody: to take into account, deal with, consider or not, i.e. to misjudge, ignore, not take into account, not deal with, not consider or fail to consider; e.g. reckon without one's host

   There are hardships that nobody reckons; There are valleys unpeopled and still; There’s a land—oh, it beckons and beckons, And I want to go back—and I will.

   1907, Robert W. Service, The Spell of the Yukon

6. CommonwealthintransitiveTo make an enumeration or computation; to engage in numbering or computing.

   Synonyms: enumerate, compute

7. CommonwealthTo come to an accounting; to draw up or settle accounts; to examine and strike the balance of debt and credit; to adjust relations of desert or penalty.

plural reckons · alternative dialectal reckin · alternative obsolete recken

1. CommonwealthinformalAn impression or opinion.

   Here's my reckon on mass incarceration.

   2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 37

   3 more examples

   Shaggy asked him, ' 'Ow dew yew a reckon on your turnips, Fred?'

   2009, Brendan Behan, Borstal Boy, page 264

   I wouldn't get much of an idea what the site was like until daylight but it was close to the cook fires and the food stalls and entertainment tents so, my reckons it was perfect.

   2020, R. H. van de Weert, Reveille

   I have beckoned vigorously & my reckons have passed into a vast sea of stones, rearing the strong feelings, the dawn of light emerged; surfacing the depths of the deep & the depths was beckoning coldly.

   2020, Marvin J. Everheart, The Vision of M.E.

plural reckons

1. CommonwealthalternativedialectalAlternative form of rackan (“chain”).