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An estimate is an educated guess for an unknown quantity or outcome based on known information. The making of estimates is
an important part of statistics, since care is needed to provide as accurate an estimate as possible using as little input
data as possible. Often, an estimate for the uncertainty 
of an estimate 
can also be determined
statistically. A rule that tells how to calculate an estimate based on the measurements contained in a sample is called an
Estimator.
See also Bias (Estimator), Error, Estimator
References
Iyanaga, S. and Kawada, Y. (Eds.). ``Statistical Estimation and Statistical Hypothesis Testing.''
Appendix A, Table 23 in Encyclopedic Dictionary of Mathematics. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press,
pp. 1486-1489, 1980.