DEAD RECKONING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does dead reckoning mean? 

• DEAD RECKONING (noun)
  The noun DEAD RECKONING has 2 senses:

1. an estimate based on little or no information

2. navigation without the aid of celestial observations

  Familiarity information: DEAD RECKONING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEAD RECKONING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An estimate based on little or no information

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

dead reckoning; guess; guessing; guesswork; shot

Hypernyms ("dead reckoning" is a kind of...):

approximation; estimate; estimation; idea (an approximate calculation of quantity or degree or worth)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Navigation without the aid of celestial observations

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("dead reckoning" is a kind of...):

navigation; pilotage; piloting (the guidance of ships or airplanes from place to place)

 Context examples 

Sailing one direction, drifting another direction, to say nothing of the set of the current in some third direction, makes a resultant which dead reckoning can never calculate.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

The seaman had no love of cities, and was happier wandering over the Downs, and turning his glass upon every topsail which showed above the horizon, than when finding his way among crowded streets, where, as he complained, it was impossible to keep a course by the sun, and hard enough by dead reckoning.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)