haruspicy

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

[edit]
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Latin haruspicium, from haruspex (diviner of entrails) + -ium (forming abstract nouns).

Pronunciation

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

haruspicy (countable and uncountable, plural haruspicies)

  1. Divination by use of animal entrails, usually the victims of sacrifice.
    • 1807, Charles Buck, A Theological Dictionary, Volume 1, Whitehall, page 238:
      Different kinds of divination, which have passed for sciences, we have had: [] 6. Haruspicy, by inspecting the bowels of animals. []
    • 1825, Horace Smith, Gaieties and Gravities: A Series of Essays, Comic Tales, and Fugitive Vagaries, Volume II, H. Colburn, page 333:
      That our fates should be made dependent upon the stars, planets, and constellations, however preposterous a conceit, at least imparts a dignity to our nature by conjoining earth with Heaven: but that the doom of kings, empires, and individuals, should be regulated [] by the entrails of victims, as analysed by the butchers of Haruspicy [] is an evidence of stupid credulity that levels civilised man to the savage []

Synonyms

[edit]

Hyponyms

[edit]

Coordinate terms

[edit]

Translations

[edit]