augur

plural augurs

1. A diviner who foretells events by the behaviour of birds or other animals, or by signs derived from celestial phenomena, or unusual occurrences.

   Augur of ill, whoſe tongue was never found / Without a prieſtly curſe, or boding ſound; [...]

   a. 1701 (date written), John Dryden, “The First Book of Homer’s Ilias”, in The Miscellaneous Works of John Dryden, […], volume IV, London: […] J[acob] and R[ichard] Tonson, […], published 1760, →OCLC, page 420

2. Ancient RomeAn official who interpreted omens before the start of public events.

   1 more example

   It was an ancient tradition, that when the Capitol was founded by one of the Roman kings, the god Terminus (who presided over boundaries, and was represented, according to the fashion of that age, by a large stone) alone, among all the inferior deities, refused to yield his place to Jupiter himself. A favorable inference was drawn from his obstinacy, which was interpreted by the augurs as a sure presage that the boundaries of the Roman power would never recede.

   1776, Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol I, ch 1-pt ii

present singular third person augurs · participle present auguring · participle past augured · past augured

1. To foretell events; to exhibit signs of future events; to indicate a favorable or an unfavorable outcome.

   Every circumstance augured success.

   5 more examples

   Recent events do not augur well for world peace.

   The train was well filled, with quite an amount of intermediate business; but station staff and passengers alike seemed ready enough to "look lively", and the result was a general "slickness" in working that augers^([sic]) well for the future.

   1959 June 28, O. S. Nock, “British Locomotive Practice and Performance”, in Railway Magazine, page 408

   But there, too, the meteorological omens augured ill.

   2024 May 9, Ned Temko, “On rare visit, Xi Jinping tries to rescue China’s relationship with Europe”, in The Christian Science Monitor

   Whether term limits would augur a return of justices with broader experience in public life is debatable.

   2024 September 20, Mark Sherman, “Supreme Court justices have a job for life. But some left the court to make their lasting mark”, in AP News

   As Ellmann was quietly assembling materials for his biography, specialization was on the rise in American literature departments, as the critic Erich Auerbach warned, auguring the decline of a general humanities education.

   2025 June 16, Eric Bulson, “Yes I Will Read ‘Ulysses’ Yes”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN