Obs. [ad. L. supputātio, -ōnem, n. of action f. supputāre to SUPPUTE. Cf. F. supputation (from 16th c.).]
1. The action (or an act) of calculating or computing; a method or system of reckoning; calculation, computation, reckoning.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 27. Florentius, monke of Wurcestre, whom y folowe specially with Marianus Scotte in the supputacion of yeres.
1545. Joye, Exp. Dan., B j b. A brife supputation of the ages and yeres of the world.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 65. Euery leaque conteyneth foure myles, after theyr supputations.
1560. Bible (Geneva), Esther, Argt. 218 b. The supputation of yeres, wherein the Ebrewes, and the Grecians do varie.
1650. Twysden, in Rigaud, Corr. Sci. Men (1841), I. 67. For the ready supputation of the places of the planets.
1652–62. Heylin, Cosmogr., Introd. (1674), 17/2. Chronologies … are only bare supputations of times, with some brief touch upon the Actions therein hapning.
1696. Aubrey, Misc., 24. The skill of dealing with difficult supputations of Numbers not then discoverable.
1698. Hearne, Duct. Hist. (1714), I. 7. The Julian Period … is a supputation of 7980 years. Invented by Julius Scaliger.
1751. Act 24 Geo. II., c. 23 § 1. That … the said Supputation, according to which the Year of our Lord beginneth on the twenty-fifth Day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last Day of December, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-one.
1825. A. Clarke, Comm. O. T., Ps. lxxxi. 3. They … sent persons to the top of some hill … about the time which, according to their supputations, the new moon should appear.
b. transf. Estimation, reckoning.
1643. Sir T. Browne, Relig. Med., I. § 18. In a wise supputation all things begin and end in the Almighty.
1657. Trapp, Comm. Job xxxviii. 18. They have their supputations and conjectures.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 224. He so disturbed and confounded all his supputations, that [etc.].
2. (See quot.) rare–0.
1656. Blount, Glossogr., Supputation..., a pruyning or cutting Trees.
