Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CALC'U-LATE, v.t. [Fr. calculer; It. calculare; Sp. calcular; L. calculo; from calculus, a pebble; Ar. Syr. قَلْقَيْ, kalukai, gravel.]

1. To compute; to reckon; to add, subtract, multiply, or divide any sums, for the purpose of finding the amount, difference, or other result. Thus, to calculate the expenses of erecting a house, is to estimate and add together the several sums which each part of the materials and the work will cost.
2. To ascertain by the use of tables or numbers; as, to calculate an eclipse.
3. To form tables upon mathematical principles, as logarithms, ephemerides, &c.
4. To compute the situation of the planets at a certain time, for astrological purposes; as, to calculate the birth of a person. – Shak.
5. To adjust by computation; to fit or prepare by the adaptation of the means to the end; as, to calculate a system of laws for a free people. Religion is calculated for our benefit. – Tillotson.