augur

augur 1[aw-ger] ExamplesWord Origin noun

1. one of a group of ancient Roman officials charged with observing and interpreting omens for guidance in public affairs.
2. soothsayer; prophet.

verb (used with object)

3. to divine or predict, as from omens; prognosticate.
4. to serve as an omen or promise of; foreshadow; betoken: Mounting sales augur a profitable year.

verb (used without object)

5. to conjecture from signs or omens; predict.
6. to be a sign; bode: The movement of troops augurs ill for the peace of the area.

Origin of augur 1 1540–50; Latin augur (variant of auger) a diviner, soothsayer, derivative of augēre to augment with orig. implication of “prosper”; cf. august Can be confusedauger augur augur 2 [aw-ger]Western U.S. verb (used without object)

1. to argue, talk, or converse.

noun

2. an excessively talkative person.

Origin of augur 2 1920–25; metathetic variant of argue; noun perhaps by association with auger Can be confusedauger augur Related Words for auguring foreshadow, signify, foretell, presage, portend, diviner, harbinger, seer, prognosticator, forecaster, prophet, herald, oracle, soothsayer, read, prophesy, adumbrate, forecast, promise, bespeak Examples from the Web for auguring Historical Examples of auguring

Au′gurship; Au′gury, the art or practice of auguring: an omen.

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D)

Various

Auguring no good; perhaps Decheance and Deposition after all!

The French Revolution

Thomas Carlyle

November opened with more moderate weather, auguring still better conditions for midsummer.

The Home of the Blizzard

Douglas Mawson

But scarcely had he arrived when disgust set in to the extent of auguring very ill of his reign.

A Popular History of France From The Earliest Times

Francois Pierre Guillaume Guizot

The Queen made no answer, and Harold, auguring ill from her silence, moved on and opened the door of the oratory.

Harold, Complete

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

British Dictionary definitions for auguring augur noun

1. Also called: auspex (in ancient Rome) a religious official who observed and interpreted omens and signs to help guide the making of public decisions
2. any prophet or soothsayer

verb

3. to predict (some future event), as from signs or omens
4. (tr; may take a clause as object) to be an omen (of); presage
5. (intr) to foreshadow future events to be as specified; bodethis augurs well for us

Derived Formsaugural (ˈɔːɡjʊrəl), adjectiveaugurship, nounWord Origin for augur C14: from Latin: a diviner, perhaps from augēre to increase Word Origin and History for auguring augur n.

1540s, from Latin augur, a religious official in ancient Rome who foretold events by interpreting omens, perhaps originally meaning “an increase in crops enacted in ritual,” in which case it probably is from Old Latin *augos (genitive *augeris) “increase,” and is related to augere “increase” (see augment). The more popular theory is that it is from Latin avis “bird,” because the flights, singing, and feeding of birds, along with entrails from bird sacrifices, were important objects of divination (cf. auspicious). In that case, the second element would be from garrire “to talk.”

augur v.

c.1600, from augur (n.). Related: Augured; auguring.