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one of a group of ancient roman officials charged with observing and interpreting omens for guidance in public affairs.
soothsayer; prophet.
to divine or predict, as from omens; prognosticate.
to serve as an omen or promise of; foreshadow; betoken:
mounting sales augur a profitable year.
to conjecture from signs or omens; predict.
to be a sign; bode:
the movement of troops augurs ill for the peace of the area.
to argue, talk, or converse.
an excessively talkative person.
historical examples

mr gray, who had just dismounted from a long journey, hastened downstairs, auguring some new occasion for his services.
the centenary garland anonymous

au′gurship; au′gury, the art or practice of auguring: an omen.
chambers’s twentieth century dictionary (part 1 of 4: a-d) various

the marquis de bruyeres watched him with great satisfaction, auguring good things for their side from his quiet sang-froid.
captain frac-sse theophile gautier

auguring no good; perhaps decheance and deposition after all!
the french revolution thomas carlyle

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

and when willis herself comes in, auguring no good from this visit, my aunt gives her the tips of her fingers.
richard carvel, complete winston churchill

this dinner, on october 14th, auguring good fortune to all, was the last success of mme. roland.
women of modern france (ill-strated) hugo paul thieme (1870-1940)

november opened with more moderate weather, auguring still better conditions for midsummer.
the home of the blizzard douglas mawson

auguring all sorts of dismal things from this, he moped gloomily back to the kitchen.
the woman-haters joseph c. lincoln

noun
also called auspex. (in ancient rome) a religious official who observed and interpreted omens and signs to help guide the making of public decisions
any prophet or soothsayer
verb
to predict (some future event), as from signs or omens
(transitive; may take a clause as object) to be an omen (of); presage
(intransitive) to foreshadow future events to be as specified; bode: this augurs well for us
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.”
v.

c.1600, from augur (n.). related: augured; auguring.