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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.
Contemporary Examples

A mid-70s big textbook battle in the capital city of Charleston over the usual things, science and God, augured what was coming.
West Virginia. Sigh. Michael Tomasky June 18, 2012

Historical Examples

As for the people, the masses, they simply stood by and wondered, ready for any innovation which augured for the better.
Castles and Chateaux of Old Navarre and the Basque Provinces Francis Miltoun

We dined together, and augured well of the skill of the new cook.
The Memoires of Casanova, Complete Jacques Casanova de Seingalt

I hoped that it augured well for us, but while I hoped I had a gloomy foreboding.
Tales of lonely trails Zane Grey

Charles believed them, and broke into a fury that augured badly for his guest.
Historical Tales, Vol. 6 (of 15) Charles Morris

If they had both suffered equally, reasoned the rude philosopher, it augured a quarrel not wholly or guiltily one-sided.
The Tempering Charles Neville Buck

His answer was a dubious movement of the head which augured ill.
Fairy Fingers Anna Cora Mowatt Ritchie

But she carried this generosity to a degree that augured ill for the preservation of Mazarin’s millions.
Court Beauties of Old Whitehall W. R. H. Trowbridge

I stood up pale and trembling, for I augured no good from this commencement.
Peter Simple Frederick Marryat

His manner indicated so much petulant fretfulness, that I augured from it the conscious decline or disorder of his affairs.
Captain Canot Brantz Mayer

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.