Emily Dickinson Lexicon

CON-SID-ER-A'TION, n. [L. consideratio. See Consider.]

1. The act of considering; mental view; regard; notice; as, let us take into consideration the consequences of a hasty decision.
2. Mature thought; serious deliberation. Let us think with consideration. – Sidney.
3. Contemplation; meditation. The love you bear to Mopsa hath brought you to the consideration of her virtues. – Sidney.
4. Some degree of importance; claim to notice, or regard; a moderate degree of respectability. Lucan is an author of consideration among the Latin poets. – Addison.
5. That which is considered; motive of action; influence; ground of conduct. He was obliged, antecedent to all other considerations, to search an asylum. – Dryden.
6. Reason; that which induces to a determination; as, he was moved by the considerations set before him.
7. In law, the reason which moves a contracting party to enter into an agreement; the material cause of a contract; the price or motive of a stipulation. In all contracts, each party gives something in exchange for what he receives. A contract is an agreement, upon sufficient consideration. This consideration is express or implied; express, when the thing to be given or done is specified; implied, when no specific consideration is agreed upon, but justice requires it and the law implies it; as, when a man labors for another, without stipulating for wages, the law infers that he shall receive a reasonable consideration. A good consideration is that of blood, or natural love; a valuable consideration is such as money, marriage, &c. Hence a consideration is an equivalent or recompense; that which is given as of equal estimated value with that which is received.