AUGUR

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does augur mean? 

• AUGUR (noun)
  The noun AUGUR has 1 sense:

1. (ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy

  Familiarity information: AUGUR used as a noun is very rare.

• AUGUR (verb)
  The verb AUGUR has 2 senses:

1. indicate, as with a sign or an omen

2. predict from an omen

  Familiarity information: AUGUR used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• AUGUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

augur; auspex

Hypernyms ("augur" is a kind of...):

oracle; prophesier; prophet; seer; vaticinator (an authoritative person who divines the future)

Domain category:

antiquity (the historic period preceding the Middle Ages in Europe)

Domain region:

capital of Italy; Eternal City; Italian capital; Roma; Rome (capital and largest city of Italy; on the Tiber; seat of the Roman Catholic Church; formerly the capital of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire)

Derivation:

augur (indicate, as with a sign or an omen)

augur (predict from an omen)

• AUGUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they augur    ... he / she / it augurs   
Past simple: augured   
Past participle: augured   
-ing form: auguring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Indicate, as with a sign or an omen

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

augur; auspicate; betoken; bode; forecast; foreshadow; foretell; omen; portend; predict; prefigure; presage; prognosticate

Context example:

These signs bode bad news

Hypernyms (to "augur" is one way to...):

bespeak; betoken; indicate; point; signal (be a signal for or a symptom of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "augur"):

threaten (to be a menacing indication of something)

foreshow (foretell by divine inspiration)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

augur ((ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Predict from an omen

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "augur" is one way to...):

anticipate; call; forebode; foretell; predict; prognosticate; promise (make a prediction about; tell in advance)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Derivation:

augur ((ancient Rome) a religious official who interpreted omens to guide public policy)

 Context examples 

“I augur all sort of good from your sensible decision.”

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A process that fills a dosage unit using an augur to deliver the powder, which is not performed under sterile conditions.

(Non-Sterile Augur Powder Filling Method, NCI Thesaurus)

“Will Mr. Frank Churchill pass through Bath as well as Oxford?”—was a question, however, which did not augur much.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Indeed you are mistaken there, sir; I should never augur want of spirit from Captain Benwick's manners.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The morrow brought a very sober-looking morning, the sun making only a few efforts to appear, and Catherine augured from it everything most favourable to her wishes.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Another burst of tears; but in spite of that burst, and in spite of that great black word miserable, which served to introduce it, Sir Thomas began to think a little relenting, a little change of inclination, might have something to do with it; and to augur favourably from the personal entreaty of the young man himself.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

If he were to be very alert in engaging Jane Fairfax now, it might augur something.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

At last I awake, very queer about the head, as from a giddy sleep, and see the butcher walking off, congratulated by the two other butchers and the sweep and publican, and putting on his coat as he goes; from which I augur, justly, that the victory is his.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

If I could have supposed that my aunt had recounted these particulars for my especial behoof, and as a piece of confidence in me, I should have felt very much distinguished, and should have augured favourably from such a mark of her good opinion.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I may augur, from the silence of my family, that they object to the resolution I have taken; but I should not allow myself to be swerved from the path of duty, Mr. Copperfield, even by my papa and mama, were they still living.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)