Reckoning

Origin

reckon + -ing. Compare Dutch rekening, German Rechnung.

Verb

1. Present participle of reckon

Full definition of reckoning

Noun

1. The action of calculating or estimating something.By that reckoning, it would take six weeks to go five miles.
• 1907, w, The Younger Set Chapter 3, When the flames at last began to flicker and subside, his lids fluttered, then drooped ; but he had lost all reckoning of time when he opened them again to find Miss Erroll in furs kneeling on the hearth and heaping kindling on the coals, and her pretty little Alsatian maid beside her, laying a log across the andirons.
2. (archaic) The bill (UK) or check (US), especially at an inn or tavern.
• 1817, Walter Scott, Rob Roy:So saying, he called for a reckoning for the wine, and throwing down the price of the additional bottle which he had himself introduced, rose as if to take leave of us.
3. An opinion or judgement.
4. The working out of consequences or retribution for one's actions.

Derived terms

• dead reckoning