Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RE-CIP'RO-CATE, v.i. [L. reciproco; Fr. reciproquer.]

To act interchangeably; to alternate. One brawny smith the purring bellows plies, / And draws and blows reciprocating air. – Dryden.

RE-CIP'RO-CATE, v.t.

To exchange; to interchange; to give and return mutually; as, to reciprocate favors.

RE-CIP'RO-CA-TED, pp.

Mutually given and returned; interchanged.

RE-CIP'RO-CA-TING, ppr.

Interchanging; each giving it doing to the other the same thing.

RE-CIP-RO-CA'TION, n. [L. reciprocatio.]

1. Interchange of acts; a mutual giving and returning; as, the reciprocation of kindnesses.
2. Alternation; as, the reciprocation of the sea in the flow and ebb of tides. – Brown.
3. Regular return or alternation of two symptoms or diseases. – Coxe.

REC-I-PROC'I-TY, n. [Fr. reciprocité.]

Reciprocal obligation or right; equal mutual rights or benefits to be yielded or enjoyed. The commissioners offend to negotiate a treaty on principles of reciprocity.

RE-CI'SION, n. [s as z; L. recisio, from recido, to cut off; re and cædo.]

The act of cutting off. – Sherwood.

RE-CIT-AL, n. [from recite.]

1. Rehearsal; the repetition of the words of another or of a writing; as, the recital of a deed; the recital of testimony. – Encyc.
2. Narration; a telling of the particulars of an adventure or of a series of events. – Addison.
3. Enumeration. – Prior.

REC-I-TA'TION, n. [L. recitatio.]

1. Rehearsal; repetition of words. – Hammond. Temple.
2. In colleges and schools, the rehearsal of a lesson by pupils before their instructor.

REC'IT-A-TIVE, a. [Fr. recitatif; It. recitativo. See Recite.]

Reciting; rehearsing; pertaining to musical pronunciation. – Dryden.

REC'IT-A-TIVE, n.

A kind of musical pronunciation, such as that in which the several parts of the liturgy are rehearsed in churches, or that of actors on the stage, when they express some action or passion, relate some event or reveal some design. Encyc. In recitative, the composer and the performer endeavor to imitate the inflections, accent and emphasis of natural speech flashy. Note. The natural and proper English accent of this word is on the second syllable. The foreign accent may well be discarded.

REC'IT-A-TIVE-LY, adv.

In the manner of recitative.

RE-CITE', n.

for Recital. [Not in use.].

RE-CITE', v.i.

To rehearse a lesson. The class will recite at eleven o'clock. – American Seminaries.

RE-CITE', v.t. [L. recito; re and cito, to call or name.]

1. To rehearse; to repeat the words of another or of a writing; as, to recite the words of an author or of a deed or covenant.
2. In writing, to copy; as, the words of a deed are recited in the pleading.
3. To tell over; to relate; to narrate; as, to recite past events; to recite the particulars of a voyage.
4. To rehearse, as a lesson to an instructor.
5. To enumerate.

RE-CIT'ED, pp.

Rehearsed; told; repeated; narrated.

RE-CIT'ER, n.

One that recites or rehearses; a narrator.

RE-CIT'ING, ppr.

Rehearsing; telling; repeating; narrating.

RECK, v.i. [Sax. recan, reccan, to say, to tell, to narrate, to reckon, to care, to rule or govern, L. rego. The primary sense is to strain. Care is a straining of the mind. See Rack and Reckon.]

To care; to mind; to rate at much; as we say, to reckon much of; followed by of. [Obs.] Thou's but a lazy loorde, / And reeks much of thy swinke. – Spenser. I reck us little what betideth me, / As much I wish all good befortune you. – Shak. Of night or loneliness it recks me not. – Milton.

RECK, v.t.

To heed; to regard; to care for. This son of mine not recking danger. – Sidney. [This verb is obsolete unless in poetry. We observe the primary sense and application in the phrase “it recks me not,” that is, it does not strain or distress me; it does not rack my mind. To reck danger is a derivative form of expression, and a deviation from the proper sense of the verb.]

RECK'LESS, a.

Careless; heedless; mindless. I made the king as reckless, as them diligent. – Sidney.

RECK'LESS-LY, adv.

Heedlessly; carelessly.

RECK'LESS-NESS, n.

Heedlessness; carelessness; negligence. [These words, formerly disused, have been recently revived.]

RECK'ON, v.i.

1. To reason with one's self and conclude from arguments. I reckoned till morning, that as a lion, so will he break all my bones. – Is. xxxviii.
2. To charge to account; with on. I call posterity / Into the debt, and reckon on her head. – B. Jonson.
3. To pay a penalty; to be answerable; with for. If they fail in their bounden duty, they shall reckon for one day. – Sanderson.
4. To think; to suppose. – Mitford. To reckon with, to state an account with another, compare with his account, ascertain the amount of each and the balance which one owes to the other. In this manner the countrymen of New England who have mutual dealings, reckon with each other at the end of each year, or as often as they think fit. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. – Math. xxv. #2. To call to punishment. God suffers the most grievous sins of particular persons to go unpunished in this world, because his justice will have another opportunity to meet and reckon with them. – Tillotson. To reckon on or upon, to lay stress or dependence on. He reckons on the support of his friends.

RECK'ON, v.t. [rek'n; Sax. recan, reccan, to tell, to relate, to reck or care, to rule, to reckon; D. reckenen, to count or compute; G. rechnen, to count, to reckon, to esteem; and recken, to stretch, to strain, to rack; Sw. räkna, to count, to tell; Dan. regner, to reckon, to count, to rain. The Saxon word signifies not only to tell or count, but to reck or care, and to rule or govern; and the latter signification proves to be the L. rego, rectus, whence regnum, regno, Eng. to reign, and hence Sax. reht, riht, Eng. right, G. recht, &c. The primary sense of the root is to strain, and right is strained, stretched to a straight line; hence we see that these words all coincide with reach, stretch and rack, and we say, we are racked with care. It is probable that wreck and wretched are from the same root. Class Rg, No. 18, 21.]

1. To count; to number; that is, to tell the particulars. The priest shall reckon to him the money, according to the years that remain, even to the year of jubilee, and it shall be abated. – Lev. xxvii. I reckoned above two hundred and fifty on the outside of the church. – Addison.
2. To esteem; to account; to repute. – Rom. viii. For him I reckon not in high estate. – Milton.
3. To repute; to set in the number or rank of. He was reckoned among the transgressors. – Luke xxii.
4. To assign in an account. – Rom. iv.
5. To compute; to calculate. – Addison.