reckon without one's host

verb

To calculate one's bill without checking with the host or landlord; hence, to come to false conclusions, to miscalculate.

First used 15th c.
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Meanings

verbreckon without one's host (third-person singular simple present reckons without one's host, present participle reckoning without one's host, simple past and past participle reckoned without one's host)

present singular third person reckons without one's host · participle present reckoning without one's host · participle past reckoned without one's host · past reckoned without one's host

  1. idiomaticrareTo calculate one's bill without checking with the host or landlord; hence, to come to false conclusions, to miscalculate.First known use 15th c.

    But hostess as she was herself, […] she reckoned without her host in the present instance.

    1823 December 23 (indicated as 1824), [Walter Scott], St Ronan’s Well. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC
    1 more example

    He had flattered himself, that this gentlewoman would decline the proposal, as she was a person seemingly of a demure disposition, who had been born and bred in the city, where such diversions are looked upon as scenes of lewdness and debauchery. For once, however, he reckoned without his host; curiosity is as prevalent in the city as at the court-end of the town […].

    1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC

Translations

German die Rechnung ohne den Wirt machen
  • die Rechnung ohne den Wirt machenmisjudge or miscalculate
Cite this entry
APA

reckon without one's host. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reckon%20without%20one's%20host

MLA

“reckon without one's host.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reckon%20without%20one's%20host. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “reckon without one's host,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/reckon%20without%20one's%20host.

Source: reckon without one's host on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.