prophesy

present singular third person prophesies · participle present prophesying · participle past prophesied · past prophesied · alternative dated prophecy

1. To speak or write with divine inspiration; to act as prophet.First known use 14th c.

   No, but when the Spirit fils The fantastick Pannicles: Full of fier; then I write

   1648, Robert Herrick, “Not every day fit for Verse” in Hesperides, London: John Williams & Francis Eglesfield, p. 285, ’Tis not ev’ry day, that I Fitted am to prophesie

   2 more examples

   And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Joel 2:28

   […] at that very moment a loud and high-pitched voice broke the outer silence of the night. It was Chielo, the priestess of Agbala, prophesying. There was nothing new in that. Once in a while Chielo was possessed by the spirit of her god and she began to prophesy.

   1958 June 17, Chinua Achebe, chapter 11, in Things Fall Apart, New York, N.Y.: Astor-Honor, published 1959, →OCLC, part 1

2. To predict, to foretell (with or without divine inspiration).First known use 14th c.

   He doth not prophesy good concerning me.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 22:8

   4 more examples

   Then I perceive that will be verified Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy ‘If once he come to be a cardinal, He’ll make his cap co-equal with the crown.’

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

   My Lord of Hereford here whom you call King, / Is a foule traitour to proud Herefords King, / And if you crowne him let me propheſie, / The bloud of Engliſh ſhall manure the ground, / And future ages groane for this foule act, [...]

   1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]

   People prophesied a long continuance to this already lengthened frost; said the spring would be very late; no spring fashions required; no summer clothing purchased for a short uncertain summer.

   1848, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 5, in Mary Barton

   ‘It has been prophesied more than once that he will find it.’

   1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 745

   Synonyms: vaticinate

3. To foreshow; to herald; to prefigure.

   Methought thy very gait did prophesy A royal nobleness. I must embrace thee.

   c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

4. intransitiveChristianityTo speak out on the Bible as an expression of holy inspiration; to preach.First known use 14th c.

   1 more example

   1646, Jeremy Taylor, Of the Liberty of Prophesying, Section 4, in Treatises of 1. The liberty of prophesying, 2. Prayer ex tempore, 3. Episcopacie: together with a sermon, London: R. Royston, 1648, p. 73, […] if we consider that we have no certain wayes of determining places of difficulty and Question, infallibly and certainly […] we shall see a very great necessity in allowing a liberty in Prophesying without prescribing authoritatively to other mens consciences, and becomming Lords and Masters of their Faith.

plural prophesies

1. countableobsoleteuncountableObsolete spelling of prophecy; now a misspelling.

   The nut-bar in Bed Three kept us all awake with his morose, nonsensical prophesies.

   2007, Emily Givner, A Heart in Port, page 202

   5 more examples

   I take it néedles, and booteles to make ouer déepe, or ſcrupulous enquiry into euery moſt auncient, and obſolete antiquitie: I preſuppoſe it ſufficient to peruſe, and examine the moſt famous, and moſt autentique ſuppoſed propheſies, that haue curranteſt paſſage, and repaſſage in moſt mouthes, and bookes: conſidering how eaſily euerie indifferent man may proportionably make eſtimation of the woorſe, by the better, and ratably value the one by the other.

   1588, John Harvey, A Discoursive Probleme concerning Prophesies, how far they are to be valued or credited, page 8

   This was the fullneſs of Time, in which all the Propheſies (concerning the Meſſias) were exactly fulfilled. Nothing was ever foretold of Jeſus Chriſt, which was not exactly performed in the fullneſs of Time.

   1670, Thomas Price, The Mystery of Mysteries Revealed in the Fullnesse of Time. […], London: Printed by T. R. and T. D. for William Saywell […], page 25

   BEING An Hiſtorical Deſcription of the Papal Empire, as it is Originally Copied out of the Propheſies of Holy Writ.

   1690, J[ohn] B[utler], Bellua Marina: or the Monstrous Beast Which Arose out of the Sea. […], London: […] George Croom, title page

   From 1890, when the McKinley bill passed, nursery products had steadily declined, until to-day many articles were being offered at rates below the actual cost of production, so that the people who favored the restoration of the duty have lived to see their prophesies falsified, because the result has not been to decrease the plantage and increase the price, but has had exactly the opposite effect.

   1894 July, “The American Association: Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Meeting at Niagara Falls”, in The National Nurseryman, volume 2, number 6, page 74

   I’ve watched the “magic” and the “mystery” of the Bible from soul-winning clinics, Salvation Army curb services, and stadiumsful-on-crusade to perjury-proofing on Perry Mason (“Swear to tell the whole truth . . . so help me God.”) to prophesies of submarines by desert-dwellers!

   1975 December, The Student, volume LV, number 3, Nashville, Tenn.: The Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention