Word of the Day

: March 22, 2007

augur

verb AW-gur

What It Means

1 : to foretell especially from omens

2 : to give promise of : presage

augur in Context

California's unusually cold winter does not augur well for the citrus crop.

Did You Know?

Auguring is what augurs did in ancient Rome. These were official diviners whose function it was, not to foretell the future, but to divine whether the gods approved of a proposed undertaking, such as a military move. They did so by various means, among them observing the behavior of birds and examining the entrails of sacrificed animals. Nowadays, the "foretell" sense of the verb is often used with an adverb, such as "well," as in our example sentence. "Augur" comes from Latin and is related to the Latin verb "augēre," meaning "to increase."

*Indicates the sense illustrated by the example sentence.