Lewis & Short

aestĭmātĭo, ōnis, f. [aestimo].

  1. I. The estimating a thing according to its extrinsic (money) value, valuation, appraisement: in censu habendo potestas omnis aestimationis habendae censori permittitur, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 53: aestimatio frumenti, the determination of the prœtor (legate or quœstor), how much ready money one should pay, instead of the corn which he was to furnish, id. ib. 2, 3, 92: erat Athenis reo damnato, si fraus non capitalis esset, quasi poenae aestimatio, i. e. a commutation of corporal punishment for a fine, id. de Or. 1, 54, 232.
    So esp. litis or litium aestimatio, in Roman civil law, an estimating, valuation of the contested matter; in criminal law also, the stating how much the convicted person had to pay, an assessment of damages, Cic. Clu. 41, 116; id. Verr. 2, 2, 18, § 45 (cf. lis aestimata, id. ib. 1, 13): lex de multarum aestimatione, Liv. 4, 30.
    After the civil war, Cæsar, in order to enable debtors to cancel the demands against them, decreed an aestimatio possessionum, i. e. an estimation or appraisement of real estate, according to the value which it had before the war, and compelled the creditors to take this in payment instead of money; they were also obliged to deduct from the sum demanded any interest that had been paid; v. Caes. B. C. 3, 1; and Suet. Caes. 42. Hence, in aestimationem accipere, to accept or agree to such a valuation, or payment by real estate at a high price: a Marco Laberio C. Albinius praedia in aestimationem accepit, Cic. Fam. 13, 8.
    And meton., with an allusion to the law of Cæsar: aestimationes = praedia, the real estate received in payment: quando aestimationes tuas vendere non potes, Cic. Fam. 9, 18. Since the creditor was a loser by this regulation, aestimationem accipere, to suffer injury or loss, id. ib. 16.
  2. II. Trop.
    1. A. A valuation, i. e. an estimation of a thing according to its intrinsic worth (while existimatio denotes the consideration, regard due to an object on account of its nominal value): bonum hoc est quidem plurimi aestimandum, sed ea aestimatio genere valet, non magnitudine, Cic. Fin. 3, 10, 34; so 3, 13, 44; 3, 6: semper aestimationem arbitriumque ejus honoris penes senatum fuisse, Liv. 3, 63: semper infra aliorum aestimationes se metiens, Vell. 1, 127; 97; Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 67: aestimatione rectā severus, deterius interpretantibus tristior habebatur, Tac. H. 1, 14 al.
    2. B. Poet., the worth or value of a thing: Quod me non movet aestimatione, Cat. 12, 12.